The Devil vs The Prodigy vs The Rikkai Volleyist
by K Double Prime
Summary: Sakuno finds herself heartbroken after the sudden departure of her love. Who will fix her shattered heart? It's a love Polygon!
1. Chapter 1

**Note: This is my first fic, please don't be a meanie. i'm not good at this, sorry.**

**Disclaimer: I don't own Princce of Tennis! yeah, i Don't, even if i want to!**

**Summary: Sakuno finds herself heartbroken after the sudden departure of her love. Who will fix her shattered heart?**

A certain brown headed girl was running down the street. She then bumped into a man with seaweed-like hair who was going opposite her direction which made her fall on her behind. She quickly stood up, dusted herself and apologized.

"A-anou,… I'm so s-sorry. I-" She bowed to hide her face and stuttered as she spoke then she heard the guy chuckle whom she collided with. She looked up and saw a very familiar face wearing Rikkai's uniform.

"Oi, you oughtta' look where you're going, you know!" The guy said with a scary, mean look.

"Kirihara-san! I'm so sorry, I didn't m-mean to d-do that…" she bowed again. She was afraid that this mean guy would do a horrible retribution on her.

"What's your name again?" he bent a little to see the face of the young girl. She straightened so that Kirihara could identify her. "I've seen you somewhere…" then he stood straight, trying to remember her name.

"Eto… My name's Ryuzaki Sakuno. I was-" she was about to say where they met, but she got cut off.

"Oh! I remember now." he stopped which made Sakuno think that she should be running for her life right now. He then continued, "But that doesn't mean that you shouldn't be careful!" he spoke with his default facial expression changing into a scarier one.

'Oh, Kami-sama! Please save my life! I don't want to die yet!' Sakuno sure was praying. After all, it's Kirihara Akaya that we're talking about. She was so scared that she closed her eyes but something weird happened. A hand placed itself on her head and patted her. She opened her eyes and saw a smiling young boy with vibrant red hair.

"Eh?" she asked in confusion. Yes, there was no other than Marui Bunta that was patting her head. Soon, the other Rikkai regulars entered the scene.

"You're quite cute aren't you?" Marui hugged her as if they were close (now they are close to each other considering the fact that Marui was hugging her…). Sakuno was out of air supply from the bear hug when something pulled Marui away from her.

"You shouldn't do that Marui-senpai! You don't even know her!" Kirihara shouted at his senpai who was now being held like a cat by their fuku-buchou. He tried to get away from the hand that held him but nothing happened. Marui then heard a soft sound. He couldn't clearly hear it; they were on a busy street packed with people. He strained his ears and heard Sanada say: "50 laps around the courts at training tomorrow and 50 push ups." He felt chills going down his spine; he looked at his teammates and saw nothing but mischievous smiles. He sighed and apologized at Sakuno.

"Well then. Sorry about him. We should get going." She felt Sanada tap her shoulder lightly as he knew her too from the training camp. She looked at them as they started to walk away. Kirihara was the last one to leave her.

"You'd better go home, too. You don't know what might happen to you." He gave her a grin and turned away to catch up with his senpai. She waved good bye and walked away as well, drifting to her own thoughts- her sad thoughts.

The Next Day

Sakuno was walking home and the sun has already set. She was alone; she wanted to be alone. 'Ryoma-kun… Why?' she pondered on her thoughts as she walked home when she was surrounded by three men. "W-What is it t-that you want?" she said meekly and one of the men grabbed her arm.

(This is going to be so predictable… n_n)

"Why don't you come with us? We'll have lots of fun!" Sakuno was trembling as the grip of the man tightened. She was waiting for a chance to escape and she was still far from home. A car passed by and stopped in front of them. The driver peered out of the window and asked for directions. She took the chance and jerked her hand and was able to run away.

"Catch her!" the three men followed suit and one of them shouted, "She was able to escape because you let your guard down!" (No, that wasn't Tezuka-buchou. Yep I'm pretty sure.)

She ran and ran and got lost! (What would you expect from our dear Sakuno?) Fear took over her head and she just started running which resulted to this. 'Oh no! I got lost again! Kami-sama, please save me!' she was still running and found a dead end.

The men, who were chasing her, chuckled in unison as they cornered her. She closed her eyes, awaiting the terrible God-knows-what that will happen to her. To her surprise a young man stood behind her attackers.

"You shouldn't scare the living lights out of young girls." Sakuno recognized his voice. It was Kirihara who found his way to her. She was thankful that at least somebody came to try and save her. The men turned and attacked Kirihara but none of them were successful

(If you want a piece of my imagination, I'll give it to you. He defeated the men with kenpo! I always wanted to see Akaya doing some martial arts tricks. *sighs* too bad I can't. *cries*).

All were beaten down to the ground. Kirihara hurried and grabbed Sakuno by the wrist and ran to a safer place where there are some people.

"I'm glad you weren't hurt or anything." He said, his back facing Sakuno who was still panting. She started crying, saying words between sobs. Kirihara turned quickly to stop her from crying. He held her on the shoulders and said, "Stop crying already! A lot of people are looking!" He heard people saying "is that a love quarrel?' and so on and so forth. He blushed upon hearing people's comments.

"It's just t-that... sniff… I…" she was still crying. He scratched his head and sighed.

"I'll bring you to your home to make sure that nothing bad happens to you." He ignored the people who were saying this and that about them. 'Che! If only these jerks knew what happened!' he thought. Now he really wants to give everybody a piece of his mind, BUT, he can't. So he walked beside her, following her pace. They arrived at the front of her door and he bid her good bye but the door suddenly opened and appear The old ha- I mean, Sakuno's grandmother Sumire.

"Sakuno! You seem shaken!" he turned to Kirihara, "You! What did you do to her!?" She spoke with the tone of accusation. Kirihara replied with a raised eyebrow. "Why you!?" she was about to hurt him big time when Sakuno stopped her.

"Baa-san, stop it! He saved me!" she stood in front of Kirihara, shielding him from whatever Sumire was about to do to him.

"Yeah, that's right old lady! If I were the one who tried to violate her, why am I standing in your front yard?" he said as he crossed his arms in front of him.

Sumire realized that she was mistaken and bowed in front of him. She apologized that she let her raging emotions take over her. "Thank you for helping my granddaughter." She paused and trembling can be heard from her voice. "I just… don't know what to do if something bad happened to her." She said all this while still bowing.

"It's okay. I'll be going home then." He faced Sakuno and said, "Next time, don't walk home without anybody accompanying you, 'kay?" she nodded and saw him walk out of their yard and into the streets. She entered her house with her grandmother's arms wrapped around her, giving her comfort.

The night passed by coldly, and she was still shaken by what happened to her earlier that day. She remembered what she was thinking and gazed into nothing.

'Ryoma-kun… Why did you have to leave?' she lied down and threw her blankets over herself, tears falling down from her eyes.

**So there. The Rikkai guys here, except for Akaya, are first year senior high students and you kno the implications of that (too lazy to encode). Please be kind at the reviews, if there will be any... sniffs.**


	2. Chapter 2

**Here's chapter 2, I hope you like it. I'll be making a lot of them this weekend before my schedule gets tighter, so there will at least be three made by this weekend. Thanks for the reviews.**

**Disclaimer: I don't own Prince of Tennis. Only this fic.**

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**A Regular Day at Rikkai Daigaku Fuzoku** (except for Marui Bunta who's now running around the courts)

"I'm … huff… out of energy!" he plopped to the ground, listening to his breathing. When he turned his head to look at his teammates who were on the court, he saw Sanada, who was throwing glares at him as sharp as daggers. He quickly got up and did his push ups.

Even though Kirihara was still in junior high, he practiced a lot in the senior high's courts while hanging out with his senpai-tachi. At that time of the day, he saw a familiar face that passed by almost five times.

He frowned and sighed, "That girl really has no sense of direction." Inside him, he wanted to help her, but his inner demons stopped him from doing so.

His senpais walked over to him as they have finished their practice and are taking a break. They saw Akaya looking around, as if he's looking for somebody.

"Hey, brat! What are you doing?" Niou's voice suddenly cracked from Kirihara's back which startled him. He turned around and saw Niou and Yukimura approaching him.

"What's wrong Aka-chan? You seem startled?" Yukimura smiled gently at him; Kirihara just turned his head away, but he remembered that it was his Niou-senpai's fault that he got surprised.

"It's your fault, Niou-senpai!" he growled at his senpai who was just smiling mischievously. Yukimura turned to face Marui who was "limping" towards them. But to his surprise as well, Marui suddenly got perky and energetic and he was staring past them. So, he followed where Marui's eyes were set on.

"Oh no. I took a wrong turn again." Sakuno sighed at her, well, lack of sense of direction. She looked around her, hoping to find assistance and she saw a young man with vibrant red hair waving his hand at her. "Maybe I can ask them for help…"

She closed into the group of boys and she saw two of them were bickering with each other. She tried her best to not to stutter, but no luck. "Uhm… E-Excuse me b-but I'm lost, y-you see.." She bowed down to hide her face with a tint of red from her previous stuttering.

Yukimura giggled at the girl and said, "Why are you here? You seem to be from Seishun…" she stood straight and looked at them. Kirihara did not notice her until his ex-buchou spoke.

He shifted his attention to the brown-haired girl, which earned him a noogie from his Niou-senpai. "What's this, our little imp's got a crush on somebody?" he whispered at his ear which made Kirihara blush a little. He tried to stop it but he can't. He struggled to get out of the grip yet it only tightened.

"Niou-senpai! I can't breathe!" he shouted as he tried to escape.

Niou whispered into his ear again, "You blushed a while ago, I must have hit the spot, huh?" he finally let go of his kouhai who struggled to put a distance between them while catching his breath.

Apparently, Kirihara's shouting caught the other's attention including Sakuno's. He got embarrassed to face her, so turned around and took his racket and resumed his training.

Jackal approached after seeing the ruckus that Niou and Kirihara had made. "What's going on here?" he looked at Yukimura who was smiling and he introduced Jackal to the girl. "It's very nice to meet you, Ryuzaki-san. But what are you doing here in Rikkai Dai?" he was pretty curious since he saw at the tournaments that Sakuno was a close friend of all the Seigaku regulars.

"I want to t-transfer h-here after s-summer break is o-over." She said as she played with the ribbon on her uniform. (Ain't she cute?) Kirihara strained his ears to hear what she was saying when suddenly Marui squealed in delight.

"Eh? You're going to study here?" he jumped at her and held her hands; "I'm so glad!" his wide smile reached his ears at the very words Sakuno had said.

Kirihara somehow got pissed with his senpai acting as if he and Sakuno were close. He felt a hand touch his shoulder, it was Niou.

"You're jealous, aren't you?" he said while pointing at the happy Marui who was still holding Sakuno's hands, shaking them up and down.

"Che! As if I care!" he grumbled under his breath.

"I see. Well, I'll tour you around so that you won't get lost," Jackal paused, looking at Yukimura who replied with a gentle smile, "if you don't mind, that is."

Sakuno nodded and Jackal walked beside her. She felt safe though she thought that she had just met him for a few minutes. He was like a brother to her.

On the background, a figure that was holding a notebook and was busily jotting down things can be seen. Sanada approached him and tried to look over his shoulder to see what he was writing but he closed the notebook quickly to Sanada's surprise. He smiled at Sanada, and he felt as if something bad was about to happen.

'What was Renji writing and what was that feeling?' he thought but then he just shrugged, thinking it might just be his imagination.

Later that day,

"Thank you Jackal-san for escorting me around." She bowed down to show her thanks. She straightened up and waved good bye and ran off.

Jackal walked back to the courts and he saw everybody still having their break. (He wasn't long gone, you see.) Marui couldn't stop getting attention since his been so energetic and bouncy all that time.

"I think you had too much sweets, Marui-senpai." Akaya looked at his senpai who was so energetic that he was still doing a lot of push ups (courtesy of Sanada).

"Who was that girl that you were talking to, Yukimura-buchou?" Yagyuu was curious after seeing what happened a while ago.

"It was a girl from Seishun Gakuen who was planning to transfer here." Renji answered for Yukimura who just smiled.

"I see. But why is Marui like that?" he pointed at the unsuspecting red-head who was unstoppable up till now.

"I don't know as well. This is a very interesting subject, Yagyuu." He opened his notebook and started writing again. Everybody was curious so they all tried to look at what 'The Data Man of Rikkai' was jotting down, but before they could take a peek he closed it with a grin forming on his lips.

"Whooo!" Marui still is hype after all he has done. "I can't wait! I can't wait!" he sing-songed while skipping happily like a child. Everybody sure is getting freaked out by Marui.

"It will be a tough competition." Niou murmured as he shifted his gaze from Kirihara to Marui.

Today has been a weird day.

Sakuno arrived and entered her house. Her grandmother wasn't around. "I guess she's still at school." she sat on the couch, encouraging herself in her thoughts.

'The decision I made is final. I'll get it through.' She thought when their phone rang.

"Hello, this is Ryuzaki Sakuno speaking-" then a loud voice could be heard from the other line. "Tomo-chan, please don't shout over the phone!"

"But Sakuno, I heard that you were transferring! How can I calm down?" Tomoka was angry at her best friend's decision of leaving her and the others.

"Yeah, that's right, Ryuzaki-chan!" she heard the phone being handed to somebody else and it was Momo-senpai. "What about us!?" then she heard a 'fushuu' in the background and the phone was handed back to Tomo.

The sound of Kaidoh and Momo fighting made it hard to understand what Tomo was saying. So Sakuno just said, "I'm so sorry, minna-san." She started to sob and the noise on the other line silenced itself. "But this is the best that I can think of. I don't know what to do anymore." Everybody understood her. Her relationship with the prodigy lasted for almost a year then he suddenly left without any explanation. The school itself makes her remember happy yet painful memories.

"I-I'm so sorry." Then she hung up, her sobs, that echoed in the quiet house, were heartbreaking.

She spent her summer break with all of her friends going here and there. She knew it will be hard to be with them once she has transferred to her new school. Her friends knew what hardship she was going through, so they all tried to make her forget, to make her last summer break with them memorably happy.

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**And there you have it. The story is still culminating in my head so i got to type it before it changes, see ya later! n_n**


	3. Chapter 3

**Thanks for all the people who appreciate my existence and my fic. Thanks to the guys who reviewed my fic, and to those who added this to their story alert, please kindly tell me what you think when you read my fic. Thanks!**

**Disclaimer: I do not own Prince of Tennis! I swear!**

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**The End of Summer**

Each and every one of Sakuno's friends knew that the end of summer means that it will be her transfer to Rikkai Dai. To their surprise at the end of summer, Ryuzaki-sensei was also planning on retiring so that they can move somewhere closer to Sakuno's new school. At that very last day of summer break, her friends gathered at Seigaku to give her a surprise going away party, but most of them noted that it wasn't a 'going away party' since she won't be leaving them in a manner that some brat did. Momo was one of the people who said such, and even renamed it as a transferring-to-another-school party.

They all had fun in the party, especially Sakuno. She felt like she was really loved and appreciated. But before the party ended the girls started to cry. They knew that they won't be able to see each other at a regular basis, so they offered Sakuno their messages, mostly about taking care of her own self and the stuff. Even Fuji had a message for her, which went like this: "Be wary of Kirihara Akaya."

When he finished, all of Sakuno's guests looked at him (Well, he was right!). But then, he gave a soft laugh and said, "All of us here in Seigaku just want you take good care of yourself."

'That sure was memorable, though.' Sakuno thought. The party didn't stay up too late since everybody has classes the following day. It was a tearful goodbye yet she has to accept it in part of her decision.

When she and her grandmother got to their new home, which they furnished during the summer, she entered her new bedroom and slumped to her bed. Tears started to flow from her eyes which she tried to stop and she was able to. She encouraged herself saying, "My eyes will look puffy if I continue on crying. I can't let my new classmates think I'm weird or something."

So, she tried to sleep so that she will be able to wake up early tomorrow for school.

**The First Day of Sakuno's Academic Life on Rikkai Dai**

"Thank Kami-sama I'm right on time!" she panted as she got to her new classroom. She got lost you see (Oh, not again!). The room was already filled with students just like her and she's having mixed emotions right now- a healthy amount of excitement and fright (fright of stuttering in front of everyone).

Half of her day had gone smoothly and it's lunch break now. She still has no friends since she was too shy to talk to anybody. Then a girl approached her and asked her if they can have lunch together and she agreed to do so. They went to the rooftop to eat their lunch. They were happily chatting with each other when a group of male senior high students approached the two of them. The both of them had already finished eating when the company came. They felt that they have to go back to their room but the group stopped them.

"W-What is it t-that you want?" she said shyly but she didn't lose the eye contact with the group's leader.

"We were planning on cutting classes. We were just wondering if you want to come?" he closed in on her, keeping the eye contact. Sakuno was trying her best to look strong; she was a third year junior high student after all.

"No." she spoke with all of the courage she has and continued, "I-If you will e-excuse us, w-we b-better get going." She took her new friend's hand and started to walk to the exit when somebody blocked their way.

"So you're trying to act brave, huh?" one of the boys said then their leader chuckled. "You'll have to come with us or else will use force!" when she was about to grab Sakuno, some voice came from the roof of the exit.

Whoever was there, he spoke, "Here I was, finally able to find a good sleeping spot and somebody wrecks my peaceful time." The person got down from where he was and lo and behold it was a boy with seaweed-like hair and frightening emerald eyes.

The other students got scared, somehow this guy struck fear into their souls and if they tried to mess with him they're good as dead. Thus, they quickly scurried off without doing harm to anybody.

The boy turned around only to give a pissed look. The other girl got scared and ran away while the brown headed girl stayed. "T-Thank you for scaring them away, Kirihara-senpai." She gave him a soft smile and bowed down.

Their savior just scowled at her and said, "You're starting to get on my nerves, you twerp!" then he lightly bonked the head of the girl. He went on to get back to his class, though there was still a lot of time before the lunch break ends. She decided that it was time to go back as well; she still has to check up on her friend who got scared by Kirihara.

She was serenely walking in the corridor when another boy, who came from the stairs that was to her left, collided with her.

"Ow…" he moaned as his behind made contact with the floor. Sakuno got up and dusted away whatever was stuck on her and picked up her bento box. All that time the boy was staring at her, not even thinking to move. She turned to him and offered him a helping hand in case he couldn't stand up.

"No, no, it's okay!" he quickly stood up revealing himself to be a lot taller than Sakuno.

After a few moments, Sakuno realized who he was! "You're that guy from before…" she said as her hand fell to her side.

"You remember me?" The boy said as he pointed his index finger at himself.

"Yes, you're that bouncy and energetic guy with stunning magenta hair, if I remember correctly." She replied.

All of a sudden the person to whom she was talking with jumped at her and hugged her. "I'm so happy that I got to see you by coincidence!" Sakuno was trying her hardest to get away from him. He was invading her private space, and besides they don't know each other yet!

"Oh, I almost forgot! My name's Marui Bunta and I'm Rikkai's genius vollyist!" he said while posing with a V sign on his fingers. "So, what's your name?" he was so eager to know her name that Sakuno couldn't run away by hiding her face by bowing.

"Anou… My n-name's Sakuno, Ryuzaki Sakuno." She was still bowing to hide her red-tinted cheeks. He squealed in delight and hugged her again, and then he remembered why he was venturing into the junior high building.

He pushed her away and looked seriously at her eyes, "By chance did you see a guy with tousled black hair and scary green eyes?" he cocked his head sideways while trying to look child-like.

"You m-mean Kirihara-senpai? He just left." She pointed at the direction where Akaya went, which earned her a kiss on her cheek (she could hear the shrieks of a lot of fangirls, or was it just her imagination?) which made her blush like a tomato.

"I'll see you around then!" his voice faded as he ran to where Kirihara went so as to catch up to him. Sakuno just held her cheek that was kissed by her senpai.

'I just got kissed…' she thought.

In the courts, Marui was ever energetic and it was enigmatic. Even Sanada got freaked-out.

"What the hell's going on with you, Marui!?" Niou shook him hoping that by doing so he could bring him back to normal.

"Stop that, Niou. He'll just get dizzy." His doubles partner told him and he did so. Marui plopped to the ground feeling dizzy. "See? I told you." The gentleman sure was right. The one who plopped to the ground tried to stand on his two feet but he was too dizzy. He started mumbling things which made the others freak out even more.

"What was that, Marui-senpai?" Kirihara approached him upon hearing his mumbles. He listened closely as it got clearer as his sight was returning to normal.

"My angel's over there!" he shouted which temporarily deafened poor Akaya! Everyone followed where his finger was pointing. It pointed to two girls who were strolling outside the courts, one with brown, twin-braided hair.

"That's…" Yukimura and Jackal recognized her by her hair. Kirihara looked at Sakuno as well.

'So she really transferred here.' He thought. He wanted to go back to practice when his Niou-senpai put an arm on his shoulder.

"You sure do look enthusiastic today, huh?" he said teasingly which pissed Kirihara. His kouhai removed his arm and returned to practice. "Eh? You're quite shy to face her. Poor dude." He said while pitying the kid.

Marui dropped his racket and approached Sakuno. Sakuno's friend was surprised that she was acquainted with the famous Marui Bunta. She got attacked by a hug and her attacker was so happy to see her.

"Can you come to practice tomorrow and watch me flaunt my skills?" Marui asked her and he looked like he wouldn't take no for an answer, so she didn't have a choice.

"Hai…" she said which earned her another hug. Her friend was actually shocked by what she heard. Marui waved goodbye to them as he returned to the courts. Her friend said that Marui-senpai wasn't interested in any girl in Rikkai. Upon hearing this, she was red as an apple.

Kirihara just watched from a distance, wishing he had the 'chumminess' of his senpai. He sighed and returned to his practice which was somehow off.

With his actions a while ago, Marui got punishment from Sanada but he didn't care. He can endure all this so that his 'angel' could see him exhibit his skills. As he was running faster than usual, Renji was observing him and jotting some notes at the same time.

"This will be very interesting." His look looked sinister at every angle. "Ryuzaki Sakuno, huh?" then he closed his notebook and went back to practice.

When Sakuno got home, she quickly changed her clothes and asked her grandma for permission to go and buy things at the convenience store. As her grandma affirmed, she got out and bought some stuff for making muffins.

As she got home she paced through the corridor and into the kitchen.

"What are you going to do, Sakuno?" she heard her and replied, "I'll be baking some muffins!" she shouted so her grandmother could hear her.

"The muffins are for whom?"

She didn't know what to say so she said, "For some of my new friends, Baa-san!" and she proceeded to baking.

**The Next Day**

She grabbed the bag in which she put the muffins she baked last night and hurried off to school. Of course she did not forget to say goodbye to her granny.

Her classes went on very smoothly and she almost forgot about what she promised her senpai yesterday.

"Oh my gosh! I almost forgot about that!" so she ran as fast as she could to the courts. When she was close, she saw a boy with vibrant red hair who was, uh, a little down. She quietly closed in to one of her senpai's and planned to give him the muffins as a sign of thanks.

She tapped Kirihara's shoulder and offered the muffins. "P-Please have these as a s-sign of my thanks for yesterday." Whew! She didn't stutter that much, thank Kami-sama!

"And these are?" he opened the paper bag that contained the muffins and said, "Thanks! I was actually hungry you know!" so he tried one and commented on it. "Hey this stuff is good!"

She was so happy with her senpai's comments that she nearly shouted, "Really?" but then she realized that she has so she quieted down and bowed.

Her 'Really?' reached Marui's ears and he was able recognize the voice. He turned around with a grin on his face and looked around where that beautiful sound came from. "Aha! There you are!" then he saw Akaya eating something, and he was close to his angel! So, he rushed into them and said, "I thought you weren't coming! But you did!" then he saw that what Kirihara was eating was muffins.

He motioned to the muffins and asked his kouhai, "Who baked this?" he took one and examined it.

"She baked them." Kirihara replied as he pointed a finger at Sakuno. Marui trusted the muffin and ate it since it came from his angel. The regulars approached them and asked to have one of the muffins and ate their own.

"This is good! Wow!" Yukimura delighted at the yummy taste of the muffin and so did the others (too bad Sanada wasn't around).

"What's wrong with you, Marui?" Niou inquired as Marui stared at the ground (he already ate his muffin, the whole of it).

Everybody was worried. Nobody else got the reaction and everyone was sure that there was no poison on the muffins.

Really, what happened to him?

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**Cliff-hanger, yay! Don't worry, i'll be encoding the next chapter first thing in the morning. Please try to check everyday this weekend up to monday this coming week because i might update everyday. I said i might. There, read and review!**


	4. Chapter 4

**"Marui, why are you OOC in this fic?"**

**"How should I know? You're the one who made this!"**

**"I thought you were a genius..." Marui snaps in the background.**

**"I'll kill you if you make me more OOC than this!"**

**"Akaya-kun do it!"**

**"K' does not own The Prince of Tennis!" Akaya said as he stopped Marui from killing K'. Sakuno enters the scene and Marui changes drastically.**

**"This is very interesting. Marui must have turned schizophrenic. Hmm..." Renji noted his teammates reaction.**

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"What's wrong with you, Marui?" Niou inquired as Marui stared at the ground (he already ate his muffin, the whole of it).

Everybody was worried. Nobody else got the reaction and everyone was sure that there was no poison on the muffins.

Yagyu approached him to ask what was wrong and if help be needed when Marui suddenly slapped Yagyu's hand that was nearing his shoulder. He walked slowly, closing the distance between him and Sakuno. Kirihara just stared, following his senpai's moves.

He suddenly kneeled in front of Sakuno and said, "You're my little pastry angel!"

"…" there was silence. It took a lot of time before his words sunk into the heads of the others.

Everyone was shocked with his sudden behavior (Renji was jotting down everything, even his reaction to the taste of the muffin). Sakuno blushed and Marui continued, "Will you be the mother of my children?" Now, everybody got even more shocked. Renji's jersey was tipped off to the edge of his shoulder while the others had their mouths gaping wide.

"I-I…" Sakuno was so red that she jerked her hand from Marui's hold and backed off a bit while shaking her head side ways. "I-I'm so s-sorry!" then she ran off as fast as she could.

Marui was so serious that nobody took him seriously. He looked around and saw his teammates' mouths wide open and Renji's notebook was almost set on fire because of the friction created by his writing.

"What are you thinking, Marui-senpai!?" Kirihara was really pissed and he threw the ball that he was holding on his other hand (the other was used for holding his share of the muffins) to his senpai's head out of his rage. He threw it so hard that it bounced off the way it would have bounced off of a wall.

Everyone was surprised by Akaya's actions. Marui just left his head the way it was when it was hit by the ball.

Niou approached Kirihara and was about to slap him when somebody did so before him. "Sanada!" he looked at his fukou-buchou who was angry but still wore the same expression on his face. Then he returned to Akaya (who's head is twisted 360 degrees from the slap :P ), "Don't you know how to respect your senpai, Kirihara!?" Kirihara turned to him and looked at his eyes with those seriously scary green ones of his.

"Kirihara, Marui, 60 laps around the court!" Sanada ordered the two who made quite the fuss in practice. Marui was still on the ground while Kirihara stood with his arms on his sides, his hands clenching into fists. Marui got up and started to run around the courts and his kohai followed him. Marui gave Akaya a deadly glare that no one had seen before and the other returned the favor.

Niou Masaharu put a hand on his forehead and sighed, then muttered, "What's going on here?" he then returned to practice since he was afraid of feeling Sanada's wrath.

Sakuno ran and found herself already out of the school grounds. "Kami-sama what was that all about?" she wiped the sweat from her forehead and thought, 'Maybe I shouldn't hang around them too much.' So she thought and walked home before it's too dark.

She arrived at her house and released a very deep sigh out of her lungs. "Baa-san, I'm home!" she said while removing her shoes.

"Sakuno," her grandmother emerged from their living room, "You seem tired. What happened?" Sumire led her granddaughter to sit and she gladly dumped herself on the couch.

"It's a long story, Baa-san," she paused, "I don't want to talk about it." Her grandmother just gave her a smile and went to the kitchen to prepare for supper.

Their phone rang and Sakuno decided to answer it. "Hello? This is the Ryuzaki residence, how may I-" she got cut off again by her loud best friend.

"Sakuno!" Tomoka shouted and continued, "How are you? Did somebody in Rikkai bullied you!?" if there was she'd be really angry and would probably storm Rikkai Dai.

"That's very nice of you, Tomo-chan that you worry about me. But it's only my second day there, so…" she stopped; she remembered what happened in the courts.

"Well?" Tomo was getting irritated by Sakuno spacing out all of a sudden. "Sakuno!" her sharp voice deafened Sakuno for a moment and she rubbed her ear and shifted the phone to her other ear.

"I'm sorry, Tomo-chan for spacing out on you, like that." She paused as she heard her grandmother calling her to eat. "I'm just tired, you see. I've got to go, Baa-san's calling."

Then they said their goodbyes to each other and hung up. She walked to the dining room and sat down and started to eat. After that, she took a warm bath and went to sleep.

**At the morning practice the next day**

'Geez! What was that all about, Marui-senpai talking like that and all?' Kirihara thought as he was doing his stretching exercise. He was spacing out thinking what Sakuno would probably reply to that. 'That was a proposal…' he thought as he stood up and began his jog around the courts for warm-up.

Yagyu, Niou and Renji were talking to each other, inquiring as to why Marui was acting strangely.

"Hey, Yanagi, what do you think made him like that?" Niou asked. He was really confused. Jackal entered the scene and asked the same question. If Niou was terribly confused then how confused can Jackal be, considering the fact that he IS Marui's double's partner.

Renji cleared his throat and was about to begin, "I know that you're hypothesis is that _he is in_ _love_." He turned to Niou ('Did he just read my mind?' Niou thought). "I wanted to test that hypothesis of yours, Niou, and just look at him." He pointed to Marui who was practicing like he always did. Their eyes followed Renji's finger and examined their teammate.

"He seems… normal." Yagyu added and Jackal approved him so.

"But look at him again." Renji added as Kirihara closed in to Marui.

The guys looked carefully as the two exchanged glares. They 'oohed' at the two who was having such heavy tension between them.

"Then how would you explain his actions yesterday?" Jackal was still confused.

"Don't you see, Jackal?" he paused making the right mood of excitement within their group, "It's because _love_ makes you do _stupid_ things." He almost whispered. Everybody was dumb-struck.

"So that explains his OOC-ness." Niou was satisfied when he had his hunch proven to be true.

"TARUNDORU!" they almost jumped when Sanada, their fukou-buchou, shouted. "Yanagi, Yagyu, Niou and Kuwahara, 60 laps around the courts!" they started running out of fear though Renji was just fine with it. He was happy that there was something new to observe in their team.

"I'm just glad we didn't get the slapping-of-a-life-time." Niou whispered so as not to alarm Sanada. They were unaware that when they were discussing, their buchou was listening to every word they said.

"Love, ne?" Yukimura murmured to himself as he watched the others run around the courts. "I wonder if you're up to the challenge, Aka-chan." He smiled as he returned to his own practice.

* * *

**There ya go! hehe i hope that explained why he's, uh, like that... (laughs evilly at the thought of making marui more stupid) anyways, Happy Valentines! (I know that you put this fic in your story alert or whatever alert that is, review this fic as well. Because maybe you don't like what im doing to Marui, hehe.)**


	5. Chapter 5

**"I really love you guys!" hugs Akaya and Bunta.**

**"Really, you do?" Akaya blushed.**

**"Of course I do. You helped me make this fanfic successful!" Bunta struggled to get out of the bear hug.**

**"Stop hugging me and stop saying that you love us!" he screeched.**

**"Why? Is there something wrong about that, Marui-senpai?" Akaya asked.**

**"It's un-genius-like..." he said.**

**"Don't you know that there has been a research by intelligent people that three hugs a day keep stress away?" Marui then hugged back.**

**"Sanada, I mean, Niou dressed as Sanada, say it!"**

**"K Prime does not own The Prince of Tennis or anyone of us." he paused then shouted, "I'm supposed to be Sanada! TARUNDORU!"**

* * *

The Rikkai regulars' practice has been stopped and was supposed to be continued after classes.

"Everyone is dismissed!" Yukimura said and the members dissipated and into their respective classes. He eyed the two and they were still exchanging deadly, fierce looks. 'Oh, still at it aren't you?' he thought. Everybody felt the aura emanating from them that started from yesterday.

"Would you look at that?" Niou whistled as Yagyu mentioned the two. Marui was the first one to leave the courts while Kirihara helped undo the nets; he was a first year student after all. Yagyu and Niou waited for Jackal and the others to attend their respective classes.

As usual, Yukimura still smiles as if there's nothing that's bothering him (concerning the fact that his teammates are at each other's throats). Sanada was still the same, barely affected. The most affected of all was Jackal since his doubles partner showed such ferocity at their practice game.

'Does it really have to be like this?' Jackal thought. He remembered when they were still in junior high. The two had been good friends though often times Marui teamed up with Niou to pull a prank on Akaya. He sighed deeply and wished that the war would be over soon.

Sakuno concentrated on her studies for now, pushing away thoughts about what had happened yesterday to the back of her mind. She's doing her best now to study and become a senior high student, but her thoughts still clouded her cognition. Often times, her mind flies to somewhere else, pondering as to why things such as those happen to her.

Also, she kept in mind that she shouldn't and wouldn't come close to the senior high building whatever happens.

However, she knew that one day she'll have to cope with her future problems. 'No worries! It's still not here so I shouldn't fret about it.' She thought. 'Not yet.'

The three demons were deciding to hold practice matches for the regulars and announced who were going to face each other. Yukimura was the one who chose the match up in the said activity and so, Renji approved.

"There will be no doubles practice match today." The doubles teams were a bit disappointed to hear such news. "I will announce the match up today:" Yukimura paused and scanned the crowd for the two who have been in conflict lately. Marui is normal; no signs of agitations and he is chewing his bubblegum as usual. The other was normal too, just paying attention to what his buchou would say. "Kuwahara vs. Niou on court A,"

"Okay." Jackal entered the said court readying himself for the match.

"Geez! I wanted to play doubles!" Niou complained while he was walking toward the court, his racket in hand.

Then, Yukimura announced the next match up, "Yanagi vs. Yagyu on court B,"

'Do I even have a chance of winning?' Yagyu asked himself in his thoughts, after all, its one of the three demons that he will be pitted against.

Renji just walked quietly; there was a small smile on his lips signifying that he was satisfied by his buchou's decision.

"And the last one, Marui vs.….," he waited for Marui's reaction (and for the drum rolls to start). Marui just looked at him while blowing a big bubble. He continued, "Kirihara on court C." Akaya looked fiercer now, after hearing that he will be playing against the person and senpai that pissed him yesterday.

'I hope this will help clear things up.' Yukimura thought. Renji told him the probability that it would be successful and admitted that it is quite discouraging, but he still went on with the plan.

They faced each other, one on each side of the net. Marui held out his hand for a hand shake and the other did accept so. The tension within the court was heavy and their hands clutched the other as if planning to crush it. Then the red haired boy broke the silence, "Don't think that you can win against me, brattling." His gaze still fixed on its target.

"I'm not planning to lose to you without a fight, senpai." Akaya replied and walked to his respective place in the court that signaled the start of the game.

Yukimura watched them play, both exhibiting great skills. "Eh? I never knew that this was a very great plan." He said as Sanada stood beside him. "The desire to overcome each other makes them desperate to use all of their skills, ne Sanada?" he smiled at him. Sanada just continued to watch the game.

Akaya plans to have long rallies while Marui tries to win swiftly. The two sides were even, most of their games were decided by a deuce. No one wanted to lose. Akaya knew that his senpai still holds a grudge against him (About the ball-thingy yesterday) but that is not going to scare him away. 'I'll make you reach your limit with this.' He thought. But while he was lost in his thoughts, Marui performed his Tightrope Walking. Akaya got shocked that he ran as fast as he could to catch the ball before it lands. Marui wore a smile on his lips. But to his surprise, Akaya was able to volley it back to his side over his head.

His smile quickly disappeared as his eyes followed the path of the ball in the air. Akaya fell on the ground, face down. The onlookers gasped, they knew what this meant. The ball landed outside the single's line and whoever was the announcer shouted "Out! Game to Marui, 5 games to 4! Change court!" (Marui was the server of this game. Good thing I play tennis! n_n)

Akaya stood up and walked to the other side of the court, avoiding eye contact with his opponent. His eyes are now blood-shot. He heard his senpai said, "I'll make you pay hard with these skills of mine."

"Ke! Like you can do that to me!" he positioned himself for his serve planning at the same time what to do to make Marui reach his stamina limit.

Outside the court, "Seems like Akaya-kun's going for that strategy." Renji said which astonished Yukimura.

"You finished your match already?" he asked as he followed Renji with his eyes. Then he returned to watching Marui and Kirihara's game, "Seems like both of them are on their own limits." He stated. He has been observing Akaya who's been huffing strongly.

"It's surprising he's putting up a good fight against Marui by hitting deep in to the court which disrupts Marui's play style," Sanada paused, "but Marui doesn't hit it too hard that it is just enough to make it go over the net." Renji nodded. "Marui also alternates his shots, from weak to strong shots to make Akaya run up and down the court." The two were having long rallies and Akaya was able to win his service game.

Now, the score is even at 40-all, and a deuce will decide the game. Marui was about to serve when he fell on his knees, "I'm out… of energy." He huffed. He heard Akaya chuckle but to his surprise, Akaya was down as well. Yukimura smiled and the two were smirking at each other. Yukimura nodded at the announcer and he said, "This game will stop! No game!"

The two pulled themselves together to approach the net and shook their hands. They grinned at each other and exited the courts together. Their teammates were around them and gave them towels. They looked at them as if they're waiting for something.

"What!?" Akaya said irritatedly. Then Niou teased them.

"I guess that both of you will have to show that kind of desire to win in the game of love." The two were drinking water when Niou said it and ended up choking. Both of them coughed and the others laughed.

Niou continued, "Even geniuses don't know what to do when it comes to love;" He looked at Marui who seemed disappointed yet satisfied at the same time. He shifted to Akaya who has his towel over his head and his face covered. "_And devils even become soft_." Akaya blushed big time. Good thing that the towel covered his face.

"What the heck are you talking about!?" he hollered at Niou who's taking his time laughing.

Niou had a very great plan in his head and he suddenly pointed somewhere random. "Look! It's Sakuno!" Akaya quickly turned his head followed by Marui. Then Niou started laughing out loud and rolling on the ground! He stopped and wiped away the tears of joy. "I really got you there, brat!" Akaya got redder.

"Why you! I'll kill you!" Akaya ran after Niou who had escaped already.

"_Love_, huh?" Marui mumbled to himself while watching his kohai and Niou run around.

He teased the boy; everybody laughed, and Yukimura was glad that the two were back to normal. Sanada just let the two run around the courts, _since Yukimura held him back_.

While Niou was running, he shouted a lot of things that made Akaya angrier, one of which was: "Our brattling has a crush on Sakuno-chan!" He knew if he didn't stop running he'll get killed. And so, the dispute between Marui Bunta and Kirihara Akaya was finally resolved.

The day went by slowly and Sakuno stared outside the window as the final bell rang. She sighed and put away her things into her bag and stood up. When she got out of her room, a lot of girls were outside shouting and screaming. She found her friend at the back of the crowd and asked what was going on. Then she spotted something red somewhere in the crowd. After a few struggles, two boys reached her, one with magenta hair and the other with seaweed-like hair. She gasped as she was about to say their names when one of them carried her off and ran as fast as he could away from the crowd followed by the other.

Once they were very far away from the crowd, the boy put her down. She faced them then slightly bowed to hide her face. "W-What is it t-that y-you want, Kirihara-senpai, Marui-senpai?"

"We'll be having a party at Saturday night." Kirihara said as he panted.

"And we're inviting you." Marui said trying not to lose his composure from their hustling earlier ago.

Sakuno blushed and thought, 'Why can't I stop from blushing?' She was thinking if she should come or not. She looked at her senpais and made a note on her mind, 'Kirihara-senpai and Marui-senpai will not accept NO for an answer.' And so, she made up her mind, "Hai… I'm coming along." She said defeated.

"Great! We'll meet here at school at 6, don't forget that!" Kirihara said with his scary face yet he was smiling.

Marui leaned close to her to whisper something which made her blush. Then they left.

'_Bring muffins and sweet stuff that you made. I really like your cooking_.' And that was what her senpai told her. She walked home, her head down a bit to hide her flushed face. What a day it turned out to be.

* * *

**Yay! Chapter 5 is out! This one took me a lot of time re-editing! (i'm not that much of a genius, even in tennis) **

**_Preview of next chapter: The song_ About a Girl by The Academy Is_ continuously plays in Kirihara's head. Then he sang along,_**

**_"I'm not in love. This is not my heart. I'm not gonna' waste these words about a girl."_**

**Tuesday's nearing! _Pag-ibig nga naman._**


	6. A Bento Made With All Her Love

**"Waiii! Ideas just come spontaeneously!"**

**"Why is this chapter mushy again? And why do I have to be here?" Akaya crossed his arms in front of his chest.**

**"It's because this fic is in the Romance genre, and you have to do the Disclaimer part." he whined. Then a certain man with a height of around 6 feet came in, with silver hair in leather outfit. He wore a cool red glove and a pair of shades.**

**"The name's K Dash. I'm from The King of Fighters. Could you write a fic for us?" he said, tipping his shades a little lower with his signature grin. K' fainted.**

**"Ooookay..." he said as he looked at the author of this fic lying on the ground.**

* * *

**A Bento Made With All Her Love**

It was a fine Friday afternoon and it was lunch break. Kirihara then ventured into the junior high building to sleep in the rooftop. Let's say it has been his ritual since he came to Rikkai.

Once he arrived at the rooftop, he climbed the top of the exit and lied down. Suddenly a song played itself in his mind. He heard it twice this morning over the radio. The song was **'About a Girl'**, he forgot which band performed it but then, it just continued to play in his thoughts. He closed his eyes.

_One song about a girl_

_Can't breathe when I'm around her_

_I'll wait here everyday in case she scratched the surface_

_She'll never notice_

He suddenly stirred and woke from his trance. He heard voices coming closer, a voice of a boy and others, which he recognized, are from girls. They emerged from the doorway and into the rooftop; they found a place to sit and started chatting. He listened, more like of an eavesdropping, and recognized a voice that was familiar to him. Then the first verse of the song repeated itself in his mind,

_One song about a girl_

_Can't breathe when I'm around her_

_I'll wait here everyday in case she scratched the surface_

_She'll never notice_

'God! The song is right!' he thought as his chest started to tighten while hearing the giggles of the girl whom he secretly admired yet he denied in himself. He knew the very reason why he went there; he unconsciously wanted to meet her. 'No…' he denied again. He heard his name and flinched. Sakuno called his name and he was sure that his senses weren't betraying him.

"Kirihara-senpai!" she called again, somehow she knew that her senpai would always be there whenever she ate lunch in the rooftop. At her call, there was no response.

"Kirihara-senpai!" she called again. Kirihara really wanted to come down and join them, but there's something in him that stopped him.

'Marui-senpai likes this girl; I can't be too close to her. And besides she's annoying!' he thought, putting in mind that he has to be really cautious around the girl. He ruffled his hair in confusion; he doesn't know what to do anymore.

He was pulled from his thoughts by a sudden call. He got struck when he heard her voice call him. "A-Akaya-kun, I k-know you're t-there and I want to g-give you somet-t-thing!" she half-shouted, enough for him to hear.

He scowled, 'This girl is annoying!' so he responded with a gruff "What is it!?"

She smiled, happy that her senpai was there, and told him, "I-I made a b-bento for y-you!" she stuttered; she didn't know as to why she made him that.

Kirihara sat up, and looked down at her from where he was, "You're pretty insistent, aren't you?" he glowered at her, but to his own surprise, he came down and sat beside her. 'What the f*** am I doing!?' he thought. His body just acted on its own. "Who told you to call me that name?" he said, annoyed.

Sakuno handed him the bento box and smiled with a blush on her face and he gladly accepted it. "Anou… Niou-senpai told me to do so."

'That friggin' bastard!' he thought but he didn't let his anger show through; it would sadden the girl.

"Thanks." He said. He never forgot to thank others, even if it's her or any other person. He started to eat and the boy beside Sakuno broke the silence. He talked to Sakuno openly, without traces of hesitation and they were pretty close. The girl beside Kirihara didn't talk, she was afraid to do so (she's the one that Kirihara scared along with the group of boys). While he was eating he eyed the boy beside Sakuno, since she appeared to be fond of him. Sakuno gave a very genuine smile at the boy which gave a tingling sensation to Kirihara.

The song then started to play in his mind again. 'What the!? Last Song Heard Syndrome to the max!' he shouted in his thoughts. He can't get it out of his head.

_One song about a girl_

_Can't breathe when I'm around her_

_I'll wait here everyday in case she scratched the surface_

_She'll never notice_

_I'm not in love_

_This is not my heart_

_I'm not gonna' waste these words about a girl._

_Last night, I knew what to say_

_But you weren't there to hear it_

_These lines, so well-rehearsed_

_Tongue-tied and overloaded_

_You'll never notice_

Then at the second chorus he found himself singing along as he stopped eating.

_"I'm not in love _

_This is not my heart _

_I'm not gonna' waste these words about a girl." _

The others looked at him but he was staring at his food that he thought was made with love. He was still singing,

"_I'm not in love _

_This is not your song _

_I'm not gonna' waste these words about a girl." _

He was drifting off to his thoughts when he realized that he had sung aloud. He then blushed and he scanned through his companions.

He heard a soft clapping of hands and a very cheerful Sakuno. He stared at her and succumbed to her beautiful smile. Then Sakuno spoke, "Wow senpai, you can sing well!" she was still clapping and he just rendered another annoyed sigh and he continued eating.

Inside his mind he smiled and thought, 'I really got her attention there.' It took some time before he could reflect on his thought just now. 'Where the heck did that come from?' he thought disgusted by the fact that his thinking is already upside-down just being with this girl. But he was happy even though he denied it a thousand times.

When all of them finished eating, he returned the bento box and said, "Domo Arigatou Gozaimasu." while bowing down. He stood straight and found that Sakuno's friends had gone already.

He looked at her, who was blushing relentlessly. "Anou… I-Its okay, K-Kirihara-senpai!" she said while she shook her head. Kirihara smiled; he couldn't hold it in. He was just plainly amused by the little girl's actions.

By seeing her senpai smile, she smiled back and said, "Is it o-okay t-that I m-make these f-for y-you everyday?" she pointed at the lunch boxes that she held. She stuttered so much because she was afraid that her senpai would just get annoyed.

Kirihara was struck by the words he heard. He didn't know how to answer her question. He was blushing feverishly to boot. He bonked Sakuno's head lightly and said, "Fix the way you talk. You stutter too much." he smiled at her and returned to his peace while she nodded.

"See you tomorrow, Akaya-kun!" Kirihara then again, blushed. And then she left running; her face flushed. 'I'll take that as a yes, senpai.' She thought when she was half-way to her classroom.

He returned to his position before Sakuno and the others came. The song continued inside his head, from where it stopped.

_To be loved, to be loved_

_What more could you ask for?_

_To be loved, to be loved_

_Everyone wants to be loved, to be loved_

_What more could you ask for?_

_To be loved, to be loved_

_Everyone,_

Indeed, he felt he was loved somehow. He smiled to himself as he looked into the sky and sang aloud,

"_I AM in love_

_And this is my heart_

_I'm willing to waste these words about a girl."_

Then he merrily hummed as he want back to sleep, remembering that he still has a class and he didn't want to be late.

It was a fine Friday afternoon and it still was lunch break. Kirihara had ventured into the junior high building to sleep in the rooftop. Let's say it has been his ritual since _SHE_ came to Rikkai.

* * *

**"She's awake!" Kirihara shouted, but then K' fainted again after seeing K Dash.**

**"Hey wake up!" Akaya shook K' but didn't wake up.**

**"Well then, I'll be doing the Disclaimer part." K Dash said as Kirihara was busy waking the writer up.**

**"K' does not own The Prince of Tennis nor About a Girl. It's a song by The Academy Is. And one more thing," he paused, "She doesn't own The King of Fighters."**

**"And she also doesn't own me, but, she can if she likes to." he then produced a small sheet of paper from his pocket and read the things written on it.**

**"It says, 'This side story is dedicated to TheTensaiMaruiBunta. Thanks for the inspiration.'" he then looked at the back of the paper and found something else.**

**"Hmmm... 'There will also be a side story about Marui but still has to think on how to put it in the main plot.' There's something more. 'P.S. Thanks to rebeccasanfujieijilvr, TheTensaiMaRuiBunTa, windyelephant, and silverDoe02 for their reviews and to those who put this on their story alert. I really appreciate it." he huffed as he read continuously without taking a pause for breath.**

**"I'm outta here." then he disappeared.**


	7. Chapter 7

**"What are you writing?" Niou asked.**

**"I'm writing my term paper in my Philosophy class, Metaphysics to be exact."**

**Niou read the manuscript of this chapter, then nosebled and fainted. "T-This... is..." Ootori passed by, and upon seeing Niou collapsed on the ground, he examined him.**

**"Aren't you Ootori from Hyoutei?" he nodded as affirmation.**

**"Nice timing! I wanted to interview you for my next fic, would you mind?"**

**"No, not really." then he left Niou who was still lying on the ground. After Ootori left he stood up.**

**"K' d-does not own The Prince of Tennis." Niou said while wiping away the blood from his nose.**

* * *

**Party Arrangements**

Tomorrow's the big day, the Rikkai Regular's party and Sakuno's their only guest. At lunch break, they were discussing where to hold the party. They needed a big house where they can freely do whatever they want.

Then Yagyu suggested, "Why don't we hold it in Sanada's house, where it's big and classical?" Sanada's house was a typical Japanese house with a big garden and a koi pond.

But Sanada glared at him, making Yagyu shrink to his seat. Then Yukimura smiled and said, "That is a pretty good idea, don't you think so, Sanada?" he beamed at Sanada who was plainly annoyed but he didn't want to say no to Yukimura.

"Way to go, Mura." Niou whispered at Yukimura's ears and his buchou just smiled. "Well then, it's decided! We'll hold the party at Sanada-fukou-buchou's house."

"What about our food?" Jackal inquired. He was right. No one within their group was good enough to fry a perfect sunny side up egg. Everyone quieted down and thought.

"…" there was silence. Nobody had a good idea. Sanada wouldn't want to bother his Kaa-san to cook for them, it's too embarrassing. Then Marui piped up and took in a fresh strip of bubblegum.

"Where's our brat?" he gestured to Renji who just shook his head. He looked at everybody and no one knew where he was. They sighed, that kid was a real pain in the ass.

"Where could that damned brat be?" Niou was a little sad; he didn't have anybody to pick on.

"Achoo!" Kirihara sneezed and rubbed his nose. 'Somebody must be talking about me…" then he went back to sleep.

"Never mind him. We still have our own classes and lunch break is almost over. We can talk after practice." Yanagi said and everyone agreed and stood up from their seats and went back to their classes.

**_What Is Love Exactly?_**

At the practice, everyone turned to Kirihara when he arrived. Niou grappled him and asked him, "Where have you been!? We were discussing things about the party tomorrow!" he was angry yet happy because he can bully him again. Then Yukimura approached and Niou let go of his kohai.

He then spoke softly, "Where were you during lunch break?" Yukimura's gaze seemed to pierce through Kirihara that he can't hold his secret in.

"I, uh…" for the first time in history, Kirihara was actually lost for words. Then Yukimura cocked his head, seeming impatient. "I was…" he blushed and scratched his head. He remembered Sakuno. "At the junior high building." He said shyly. 'What's this!? I'm shy!?' he was grossed by his own actions. "I ate lunch with Sakuno." He said almost whispering.

"Don't worry, I won't tell Niou." Yukimura gave him a reassuring smile and he finally felt comfortable. He didn't want to be teased all day 'til tomorrow. "She made food for you?" The boy nodded. "I see… She has a talent in cooking, huh?"

"Yeah. The food was fantastic." He evaded Yukimura's eyes as he tried to remember how delicious the food was.

"She'll cook for us tomorrow then." Yukimura said. Kirihara was shocked.

"If it's fine with her, then it's decided." He said. Inside, he was excited to try other food that Sakuno made.

The regulars, except for Yukimura and Sanada, were doing net exercises. Yagyu initiated the talk, "I heard from buchou that Sakuno is going to cook for us tomorrow." When he finished, Marui's concentration was taken away a little from what he was doing, and Kirihara blushed a little. Renji made some mental notes about the two's reaction.

"Marui, keep your eyes on the ball." Renji noted since the other's control of the ball slipped a little. Niou noticed the slight blush and made fun of his kohai.

"You really have a crush on Sakuno, ne?" he said while continuing on their practice while back-pedaling to the backcourt and hit the ball with the right amount of force.

"Shut up! I don't have a crush on that clumsy girl!" he scowled at his senpai who was mocking him.

"Denial is affirmation in itself says St. Aquinas." Marui said and everyone was surprised by his words.

"And where did you get that, Marui-senpai?" Kirihara asked while he was confused at the same time, embarrassed.

"I read philosophical books, baka! Try it and you might become a genius like me." He replied coldly.

"Then what about you?" Renji said. He was quiet all the time when the topic was brought up. "Don't you have a crush on that girl too?" he said with a hint of teasing in it.

There was silence between them and only the sound of rackets hitting balls and the sound of bouncing balls could be heard. Out of the blue, Marui suddenly asked a very intriguing question and every body turned their attention to him.

"Why can't_ love_ be _like_ tennis?" Marui spoke, his concentration still on his activity. Jackal was his partner in this practice and looked very amused.

"You never asked things like that. What's wrong?"

Niou whistled, "She's gotten under your skin, huh?" he said teasingly. Then continued, "There're a lot of answers for that question, you know." Marui blew a bubble while he mused on the question he just asked.

"But according to Kant, love and marriage are completely irrational sentiments." He said sadly.

Yagyu chuckled and said, "You're reading too much of Kant's rationalistic works, Marui. And besides," he paused to catch his breath, "Love has no cognitive importance, only that it gives pleasure to man and emotional gratification. So there's no point in finding rational reasons for love." Almost everyone jaw-dropped, they were speaking in Renji's language!

Niou butted in, "Besides, if love was like tennis, you'd win too easily, Marui." Then he turned to his kohai who was silent all that time, trying to absorb whatever they were saying. "And Akaya would eagerly beat somebody to the ground to win, and that would be awful." He chuckled at what he said that was pertaining to Kirihara, who was known as The Devil.

Yukimura suddenly spoke, which almost gave them a heart attack (he wasn't there moments ago and just suddenly appeared, like poof!). "And there is no such thing as _**game**_, _**score**_ and most importantly, _**game over**_ in true love." He smiled while observing their practice. He moved his hand as a signal to tell them to stop. "Although they are quite similar in a way, that you _**enjoy**_ both of them." Marui was struck by what his buchou said. All that has been happening to him and his actions were all strange to him; he has never been like that.

He smirked then muttered words loud enough for everybody to hear. "Your advices somehow imply that all of you had fallen in love." He eyed Yagyu who just shrugged then looked at Yukimura who shook his head, then to Niou who just sighed. "Great! Asking for advices from inexperienced people! How worse can it get?" he sighed and everybody laughed.

Niou was able to recognize a faint figure outside the courts and exclaimed, "Have I told you that Sakuno had been watching us since we started practicing?" Marui and Kirihara suddenly cringed.

'What if she heard everything that we were talking about?' both of them thought. She waved at them and they shyly waved back at the little girl. Then a boy approached Sakuno and they walked home together. Marui's smile faded from his lips. There was this sharp pain within his chest.

"Who's that guy?" he asked Kirihara.

"That's her friend; he's always with her." He said, with sadness in his voice.

Marui suddenly frowned and said, "Hmph! I'll gladly beat up that twerp!" He fervently stated while he blew a bubble. His teammates were amazed by his sudden change in attitude.

Kirihara chuckled, "Count me in!" and everybody laughed heartily.

"TARUNDORU!" Sanada shouted and commanded everyone to run 50 laps around the courts. While they were running, Marui was able to think about what Yukimura said.

'Just enjoy the challenge and don't give up.' He told himself while glaring at Kirihara who was arguing with his Niou-senpai.

"But then again, it's a matter of her choice." Yukimura said as he remembered his conversation with cute, little Sakuno.

_"Ryuzaki-chan! What are you doing here?" he asked._

_"Anou… I just w-wanted to watch a l-little bit." She answered meekly._

_He giggled at the girl and asked, "Can you cook for us tomorrow." then she turned red and bowed. "It's alright if you don't want to."_

_"No! That's not it senpai!" she said as she waved her hands in front of her. "I'll b-be glad to do so." Then Yukimura bowed to show his gratitude._

_"Thank you, Ryuzaki-chan." He smiled._

_"Please call me Sakuno…" she blushed. Yukimura had already turned away to return to the courts. Then he eyed the people who were practicing in the court._

_"Whom do you prefer, Marui or Kirihara-kun?" Sakuno gasped at her senpai's question._

_"I-I…" she played with the hem of her skirt._

_"It's okay. I was just kidding. You take jokes too seriously!" Yukimura, of all the people, made fun of Sakuno._

_"Mou! Yukimura-senpai!" then he waved goodbye to her and she smiled._

_"I'll see you tomorrow then!" then he went back to practice._

"I wonder who would be the lucky person..." he said as he joined Sanada in supervising his teammates.

* * *

**So sorry that I practiced what I've learned in class. This chapter became too philosophical though I really intended it to be that way (Marui would lose himself again after this chapter, hehe). Sorry if I'm 'torturing' Marui too much.**

**_Preview of next chapter:_**

**_Marui walked towards the school, and as he did so, he heard female voices arguing about something. He didn't care so he just shrugged it off. When he was close to the schoool gates, he saw Sakuno surrounded by a group of girls. Then one of the girls lunged forward while holding a knife, ready to stab Sakuno in the face._**

**_"Sakuno!" he quickly thought of something and grabbed his tennis racket and ran between the girl and Sakuno, as if he was trying to catch a ball that bounced on the other side of his court._**

**_Sakuno closed her eyes and when she opened them, found that she wasn't hurt and the girl who tried to stab her was being grappled by a young man with a racket._**

**Making fics is much better than making assignments, just kidding! I hope you enjoyed this nosebleed chapter of The Devil vs. The Prodigy vs. THe Rikkai Volleyist.**

**Ryoma's appearance will be soon, but he won't be getting a warm welcome from me, hehe.**


	8. Sweet Cookies Made With All Her Heart

**Disclaimer: I do not own The Prince of Tennis**

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**Sweet Cookies Made With All Her Heart**

Early Saturday morning, Sakuno woke up to prepare for the party at 6. Of course she had not forgotten the request from her senpai.

_'Bring muffins and sweet stuff that you made.' _She remembered and she was thinking of what to make. She was still lying in her bed when she remembered that she had to cook breakfast. She got up, went to the bathroom and washed her face and brushed her teeth.

She went to the kitchen and rummaged through the fridge until she found some eggs and bacon. "Western breakfast" she said and she proceeded into cooking.

'What should I make Marui-senpai?' she thought as she placed the plates at the table. She pulled the dish whatchamacallit and she saw a cookie cutter in there. Then a very bright idea came to her, 'I'll make shaped cookies!' She thought of all the ingredients that she will need as she climbed the stairs to call her Baa-san.

When she finished eating, she got ready to do the groceries. In the grocery store, she bumped into Jackal and Yukimura who were shopping for the party later on.

"Yukimura-senpai and Jackal-senpai, I didn't know that you were here." She bowed and Yukimura patted her head.

"I'll have Marui take you to Sanada's house later. You can just meet at school." He smiled and she nodded. They said their good bye to each other and Sakuno quickly went home so as to finish her cookies and set them to cool.

As she was making her chocolate-chip cookie dough she was humming a certain song. Her grandmother heard her and commented that she seemed so happy being in Rikkai and it's enough to make her Baa-san happy as well. She smiled and continued to hum.

'Where have I heard this song?' she just continued humming as she searched in her memory. "I remember now!" she blushed as she remembered Kirihara who sang the song, during lunch break yesterday. She shook her head trying to put it away and returned to what she was doing.

She laid out the dough and cut it using different shapes of cutters. Then she put it in the oven and waited around 15 minutes or so. As she waited, she drifted of, thinking about her senpai's question.

As she remembered she blushed and looked like a tomato by the color of her face.

_"Whom do you prefer, Marui or Kirihara-kun?" _the question rung inside her head, like an echo. She came back to the real world when she remembered something very important.

"Oh no! I forgot about them!" she rushed to the oven and wore mittens then took out her cookies that were perfectly fine. She was relieved; she wouldn't want her senpai to eat burnt cookies. She scraped the cookies off from the tray and put them on a plate and set it to cool.

It was almost 6 and the regulars were at Sanada's house playing cards.

"I win!" Marui said happily as he smudged some char on the losers' faces. If this wasn't a party, they would have been running for their lives as Sanada chased them with his katana unsheathed.

"Can't we use powder? It's easier to remove!" Niou whined as Marui was exacting the punishment on him.

"Don't worry! You all look great!" he looked at the other players who all had smudged char in their faces. Everyone who was playing cards was thinking that Marui was possibly cheating.

"Marui-senpai, you're cheating aren't you!?" Kirihara scowled at his senpai who was taking his time putting char on his face. Then Marui's face suddenly contorted, ready to give a laugh. "What's wrong!?" Of course Kirihara does not know how that smudged char on his face looks like, he looked at everybody and they started laughing. He turned to his Yagyu-senpai and used his glasses as mirrors. He then saw a very ridiculous face almost covered with char.

"Marui-senpai!!" he growled and chased his senpai around the koi pond while the others laughed.

"It's best that we stop this game." Sanada said calmly but deep inside he wants to kill his teammates for adding such a rule to the game. He glared at Renji who had his eyes half-closed and who was smiling mischievously. 'I'll give you 100 laps for this, I swear!' Everyone started to wipe off the char in their faces and the two came back after their lengthy chase. Kirihara went to the bathroom to wash his face because it was full of it and the others did so too.

"You'd better get going Marui." Yukimura told him as he panted from running. "Sakuno must be waiting at the school gates now." Marui replied with an I-almost-forgot face. He took his tennis bag. Yukimura was perplexed and so, he asked, "Why are you bringing your bag, Marui?"

And then he answered, "I don't know. I just feel like it." Then he rushed outside to get to the school and take Sakuno to Sanada's house.

When he was nearing the school gates, he heard female voices that seemed to be arguing with each other. He just shrugged it off since he thought he does not need to interfere with them. But when he got closer and closer, the voices became louder. He heard what they were talking about and rushed into the scene.

******

"If it isn't the new student." one of the girls that were around her, said. They all had threatening looks. "You've been here for only five days and you got extremely chummy with the boy's tennis team." Apparently, this girl is the leader of the group.

"What is it that you want?" she spoke timidly as she held to her chest a paper bag.

"What is it that we want?" she grabbed her friend's water bottle and threw its contents on Sakuno. "I hope that will teach you a lesson to not near Marui-sama or anybody from the team."

As she threw the water at the meek girl, Sakuno protected the bag from getting wet. The water dripped from her head and shoulders and she looked at the bag. Upon seeing it dry, she was relieved. "What are you being relieved about!?" the other girl snapped and took a knife out of somewhere. "Are you scared now?" the knife shone as the sun's rays hit it.

Sakuno trembled. A knife is a different thing from water. "W-What are you going to d-do?" she fell back a few steps. But the other girls stopped her from running away.

"I'm going to teach you to stay away from them!" and then she lunged forward, with a stabbing motion. Sakuno was able to evade the first attempt and she fell on the ground, still holding on to the bag. Then she closed in to Sakuno who quickly stood up. "You're so weak." She continued on attacking her but she just evaded all of it.

Then she stopped for a minute to spout things that she hated about Sakuno, "You already had caught Kirihara's attention and you still want Marui-sama's? You just keep on flirting with the both of them, you slut!" She tried to stab Sakuno again; the other successfully evaded it yet fell on the ground once more. She stood up and as she did so, the other girls grabbed her arms (she's still holding the bag with one of her hands).

As the knife neared her, Sakuno closed her eyes. A scar on the face is not so bad, but she did not want to die. She prayed.

******

Marui saw a glint of light and identified it as a knife. He ran as quickly as he can to save his kohai. 'Damn it! Think!' then he thought of something; he unzipped his bag and took out his racket immediately and stretched it out in front of him as if trying to hit a ball that bounced too far from him. Then the girl's small hand went through the neck of the racket.

'Great!' he struck the opposite side of the elbow which made the girl's arm bend. He quickly grabbed the head of the racket and twisted it towards his left which also coiled the arm that was stuck on it. "Sakuno!"

******

"Sakuno!" then she heard a familiar voice. She opened her eyes and found that she was not hurt or anything. She found her senpai grappling the girl who was holding the knife with his tennis racket. The girl dropped the knife as she winced in pain as her arm was being twisted behind her back.

The other girls let go of her and stood in shock because one of the regulars came to save Sakuno from her destruction.

"Ouch! It hurts let go of me!" the girl grimaced. Then she turned her head to see who it was. She was surprised that it was the tennis genius Marui Bunta. He tried to twist the racket more to his left and the girl winced once more.

"Let go of her, senpai!" Sakuno pleaded which astonished Marui. Then he turned to the girl whom he was grappling.

"You're lucky that she is kind. I could have called the police and reported you." Then he removed the hand of the girl form the neck of his racket and said, "If I ever see your faces again, I'm sure that that next time would be the last time that you'll be in Rikkai." He glared at the girl who kneeled and looked back at him with teary eyes. Then he glowered at her, "You don't have the right to cry, you bitch!" he held his racket high and he was about to hit her with all of his rage.

Sakuno held his hand and said, her eyes were full of tears and still trembling, "Marui-senpai, please… sob… stop it." Marui looked at her who was now crying out of fear; she got afraid of his anger. Then the girls ran away.

He turned to her, who was crying and brushed away strands of hair that was over her eyes. He noticed that her hair was wet and so were her clothes. "You're soaked." Then he quickly gave her his jacket and put it on her shoulders. He wiped the tears from her eyes and said, "They wouldn't want to see you sad." He paused, "And I'm sorry I scared you." When he finished, Sakuno cried more. "Oh no!"

Sakuno hugged him, she was afraid; she thought that she was about to die and her senpai was about to hurt somebody. Marui blushed and he hugged back. "It's okay now. Don't worry." He said as he rubbed her back and her sobs slowly died away. "We'd better go now, or they'll think I took you somewhere else." Then, Sakuno pulled back and they walked side by side, the red haired boy placed his arm over the girl's shoulders.

She held her arms tightly, wrapping herself with her own arms as she held the bag between them. She felt cold from her wet hair and clothes. Finally they arrived at Sanada's house. Everybody came out to the gates to welcome them; only to find out something terrible happened to their sweet friend.

"What happened, Ryuzaki-san?" Jackal was the first one to speak from shock. "You should get inside, or you'll catch a cold!" then he led her inside, taking her from his friend's care.

"Eh? It seems like you took good care of her, though you slipped a little." Niou said with a slight teasing. But Marui just ignored him, his face still flushed. He walked inside which was brow-raising. "What's wrong with him?" he asked the others and they proceeded inside. As Marui paced through the house, two emerald eyes closely followed his moves.

Sanada's mother lent her a yukata which she refused to wear. Sakuno finally gave in since she needed to cook and she didn't have a choice. She appeared after a short while where the guys were and they stared at her with great awe. Jackal offered to help cooking and was accepted while the others who offered weren't.

As she was cooking, she remembered something very important so she told her Jackal-senpai to watch over what she was cooking and gave him instructions.

Marui sat outside the house near the koi pond; his heart still beating furiously. He put his hand over his chest and said to his self, "Will you give it a break?" But his heart still went on beating hard. He sighed and felt somebody sit beside him and he turned his head only to see Sakuno holding something.

"You've been holding that all that time." He said staring at the pond.

"I-I wanted to g-give this to y-you. I made them." She stuttered as she handed him the bag. He opened it and to his surprise, it contained his favorite food (or maybe because they were sweet and full of sugary delight).

"Sakuno, you made these for me!?" he squealed in delight. He didn't know that Sakuno was looking at him as he enjoyed the scent of the cookies. He turned his head and as he did so, his lips brushed against Sakuno's. They both let the moment linger for a few seconds, but Sakuno pulled away and quickly retreated to the kitchen and left her senpai there in dreamland.

She touched her lips, 'I just got kissed.'

Jackal sensed that Sakuno was spacing out, so he waved his hand in front of Sakuno's face. "Ryuzaki-san, are you alright?" then she was back to the real world and realized that she has been spacing out. She returned to cooking or else everyone would get hungry because she was too slow.

He let his fingers slide over his lips and thought, 'It felt… nice, like I can do it forever.' And he went back to his daydreaming, his heart now thumping harder than before.

* * *

**Mushy, ne? This one's a real pain in the ass and it's too long as well. I might not be able to update this weekend because I shall return to my hometown to see my family. Studying at a college kilometers away from your home is hard. well, see ya!**


	9. I Dare You!

**Disclaimer: I do not own The Prince of Tennis.**

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**I Dare You**

Sakuno quickly went back to the kitchen, and when she reached her destination, she leaned on the wall and sighed heavily. Then she touched her lips, contemplating on what had happened.

"What did I just do…?" she tried to remember the sensation but then some hand was waving itself in front of her face.

"Ryuzaki-san, are you alright?" Jackal stopped waving his hand as Sakuno realized that she had been spacing out. He placed a hand over Sakuno's forehead to check her temperature.

"Eh? Kuwahara-senpai?" she said, confused as she tilted her head slightly to the side.

"You have a very flushed face. I thought you might be having a fever." then he removed his hand and looked a bit more relieved upon knowing that Sakuno was alright.

"Thank you for worrying, Kuwahara-senpai, but I'm perfectly fine." She smiled at him and walked towards the stove, returning to what she had left earlier. Then she turned her head back at her senpai and said, "Please call me Sakuno."

"You can just call me Jackal." Then she nodded.

The Rikkai regulars are now enjoying themselves on the juice that they prepared. The others were unaware about the little present that the Trickster had mixed in the juice. The Junior Ace liked the juice so much that he even commented that it tasted great. Even Sanada quenched his thirst with it.

The ones who drank the juice were oblivious that they were getting a little perkier and friendlier with each glass of that wonderful juice. Sanada and Yagyu were playing shogi near the garden as the others were having fun inside the house.

As Kirihara neared the table to get some more delicious juice, he stole a glance at the kitchen, where our cute little Sakuno paced to and fro, tending what she was cooking with Jackal and Sanada's kaa-san. A small smile formed in his lips as he watched Sakuno enjoy cooking and chatting with her companions.

"Hey, brat, what ya' doin'?" the Trickster along with the Data Master approached him. "You're stalking Sakuno, aren't you?" he placed an arm around the boy who just answered with a grunt. "Our brattling has a crush on somebody who's cute and good in cooking!" he teased.

Kirihara removed himself from his senpai's grip and denied his real feelings. "I told you! I will never have a crush on a girl who's clumsy and weak!" he said as he placed his glass on the table, making little ripples on the surface of the liquid.

Yukimura entered the scene and beamed at the two who were facing him. Kirihara turned around to see his buchou with that godly smile plastered on his face. Then he spoke, "Why don't you tell her what you really feel?" the other just shrugged and drank more juice. Niou smirked evilly as he got himself some of the juice as well.

"There is 76 percent that she will not reject you, Akaya-kun. Why don't you give it a try?" Kirihara just kept quiet. Then Yukimura raised his hand and spoke,

"If you don't want to, then I will tell her for you." He smiled and snapped his fingers. Kirihara's eyes widened and as he tried to get close to his buchou, his senpai-tachi grabbed him, tied him and gagged him and made sure that he will stay quiet.

Yukimura paced through the dining area to the kitchen where his target was and the two others followed him as they dragged poor Akaya. They hid behind the counter that divided the whole room and listened to the upcoming conversation.

Yukimura walked in the kitchen full with confidence. Kirihara got nervous from where he was, cold sweat started to emerge from his pores. He swallowed his saliva; he suddenly felt very thirsty and he wanted more of the juice.

Sakuno felt a light tap on her shoulder. She turned around to see her Yukimura-senpai smiling as always. "W-What is it Y-Yukimura-senpai?" she bowed low. She didn't know what the buchou wanted from her.

"I want to tell you something, Sakuno-chan." He paused. Akaya got more and more nervous as seconds drifted away. He tensed his ears, trying to listen very closely at what his senpai would say.

******

"I want to tell you that," Yukimura said slowly. Akaya tried to stand up but hit the overlying corner of the counter. "THUD!" He quickly fell back to where he sat; he wanted to rub his poor head but he couldn't. His hands were tied behind his back. Niou rubbed his head instead and said, "If you stay like a good boy, you won't get hurt." He grinned mischievously. He looked at Renji who produced a small test tube from his pocket that shined eerily.

Kirihara's eyes widened once more. He knew what it was but he could not speak. "Yes, that's right. This is the infamous Inui Juice that had been spreading rumors about terrible effects once it is drunk." He moved it closer to Akaya's face which then pulled back from the evil liquid. "Just stay like that and be a good boy and you won't feel the wrath of this fluid." The Junior Ace gulped, afraid of what can happen to him if he drunk that, and so, he obeyed them.

******

"THUD!" Sakuno's attention got caught by a really loud sound and asked, "W-What was t-that?"

Yukimura flashed a reassuring smile and said, "The others might be having a rough-house play, don't worry."

Sakuno looked at him, looking impatient, she said, "What w-were you going to ask me, Yukimura-senpai?" Then Yukimura remembered what he was about to say. Yes, the moment of truth! Renji and Niou watched Kirihara carefully, the other jotting down notes on a piece of paper. Akaya thought that he shouldn't have been friends or even acquainted with these freaks, for they always put him in a tight spot.

"I really like you Sakuno." Yukimura said, the smile on his face still not disappearing. Everyone who was listening jaw dropped. Sakuno was shocked at what she heard and wasn't able to reply.

"Mwmm mmmk ms mat!?" Kirihara muttered under the gag, and his senpai-tachi silenced him.

"Did you understand what he said, Yanagi?" Niou scratched his head and asked him about what Kirihara was trying to say but Yanagi just shrugged and continued to listen to Yukimura's speech.

"I know that right now you love somebody else, but I just wanted you to know how I feel." He paused then continued, "Everyone in the group really likes you, you know." Now, everyone got more shocked. Sakuno's face started to fire up and blood started to rush to her cheeks. "I'm s-sorry for disturbing you. I-I shouldn't h-have said that." Then he quickly turned around and paced out of the kitchen. The others followed him, again, dragging Kirihara along.

"MIMM MMMM MAMU!" Kirihara struggled to talk clearly but he had something in his mouth that prevented him from doing so. Yukimura told the two to remove the restraints on Akaya.

Niou removed whatever that was used to gag Kirihara as Renji removed the rope that they used to tie his hands. He eyed his senpai-tachi and spoke, "What the heck were you trying to do!? You almost gave me a heart attack!" he was really angry but he made sure that he didn't shout or else Sakuno could have heard him.

His Niou-senpai raised a hand and waved his index finger "I dare you to confess your feelings to Sakuno before this party ends, or else…" Niou smiled and glanced at what Renji was holding. Kirihara flinched at the very sight of its color.

"You would do that if you're a real man." Yukimura taunted him which made Kirihara angrier.

"Of course I'm a man! Damn it! What else could I be!?" he snapped at his senpai-tachi and he was about to hurt them when Renji took out that vial containing the ominous liquid. The very sight of it sent chills down his spine. "Che!" then he stomped off to somewhere safe from these freaks.

As he walked away he thought of the dare. 'Dang it! If my dignity wasn't at stake, I wouldn't bite in!' he thought. Inside his head he was really screaming. He tousled his hair in his confusion, "What should I do?" Though he didn't admit it, but rejection was his biggest fear.

He gulped, now he's really in big trouble.

* * *

**_Preview of the next chapter, Memories with the Prince:_**

**_"What happened a while ago and why were you soaked?" Yagyu inquired for everybody who were all worried about her._**

**_"Eto... I was bullied by a g-group of g-girls." she said, avoiding the knife part. Marui looked at her with great concern. She smiled in return to say that it was okay._**

**_"Those fan girls, they're starting to get annoying!" Kirihara said as he took a fried tempura into his mouth._**

**_"It's okay." Sakuno said as she stared down on her hands that were clasped together on her lap. "I'm used to it."_**

**Sorry it took so long before I could update. It totally disrupted my plans haha. I hope you enjoyed this chapter. Don't forget to click on the review button below, ne? Tell me whom you are rooting for to win Sakuno's heart. n_n**


	10. Memories with the Prince

**Disclaimer: I don't own The Prince of Tennis.**

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**Memories with the Prince**

Kirihara gulped at the very sight of the violet liquid then shifted his attention to his senpai-tachi. He glared at them and stomped away somewhere 'safe' from these group of people.

"It's a good thing that you're friends with Seigaku's Data Man, Renji." Yukimura commented as his plan was now in full execution. "That thing you are holding is very effective indeed." He pointed to the Inui Juice Renji was holding. Renji just smiled.

Renji remembered what his buchou uttered in his 'confession' to Sakuno, "Seiichi, those things that you said were all lies, weren't they?" he slightly opened his eyes to meet Yukimura's gaze and the other cleared his throat to speak.

"Half of it is true." He looked at Niou who was sipping some of the wonderful juice, "Niou wouldn't want to pull a prank on Sakuno since he is too fond of her." Renji just gave a confused look and asked Niou what Yukimura meant.

"Yeah, I wouldn't do that." He took another sip of the juice, "If you want a reason, I just don't know why I can't pull one on her." He put his glass down and folded his arms in front of him, "Besides, I don't want to go to hell just yet." Renji quickly understood what he meant by his last sentence- Marui and Kirihara would kill him if he did so.

"Don't tell me that you, Renji, aren't fond of her." Yukimura wanted some of the juice but Niou stopped him from doing so and handed him a different drink, something that is vodka-free.

"Well," Renji thought and he realized that ever since he and his friends met Sakuno, he has been able to extract valuable data from his teammates. "I do get Ii data through her…" he said as he put a finger on his chin.

"And if you would look at it, Jackal has gained another baby to babysit." He looked over the counter where he saw Jackal doting around the dazed Sakuno. Jackal has become Marui and Kirihara's official babysitter ever since they met.

"Ii data." He mumbled as he started writing down notes about Jackal.

Yukimura chuckled as he scanned through his immediate surrounding for a little imp who's having his tantrums. To his efforts, he found none.

******

Marui finally decided to go inside the house as his bodily mechanisms went back to homeostasis. He was hungry and the cookies that Sakuno gave him were already gone. As he made his way to the dining area, he came across a perky Sanada and Yagyu, who were playing shogi.

Sanada placed a piece and was very satisfied with what he did and thought that this game was good as won. Marui bent a little to look at the board then moved one of Yagyu's pieces and left. As Sanada looked back on the board, he was the one who was defeated. He hurriedly picked up the board and tossed it over, acting like a child who was a sore loser.

"TARUNDORU! Yagyu, 50 laps around the garden!" steam streamed out of Sanada's nose which made Yagyu sweat drop. Fortunately, the garden wasn't a big garden maze and he was able to finish his run in a jiffy.

Sakuno called, as she finished cooking and cleaning up in the kitchen. The guys went to the dining room and were fascinated with the food on the table. Sanada, of all the boys, was starry eyed and drooling over the food. Niou wanted to laugh out loud since the vodka has gotten to Sanada's nerves.

"So this is what you're like when you're drunk." Niou chuckled.

The party was now full blast. Everybody was cheering and jeering, all having that wonderful juice, uninformed of the vodka in it. Niou always gives Yukimura a different drink when he wants some of the juice and gives a lot of excuses as to why he can't have some of it.

All of them were munching on the delicious food that Sakuno had prepared, when something struck Yagyu's thoughts. He had a lot of second-thoughts before his words finally came out of his mouth.

"What happened a while ago and why were you soaked?" Yagyu inquired. Everybody was concerned when they saw Sakuno, wet and shaken. 'Crap! I blurted it out!' he thought. He didn't have any control over his mouth and tongue- the superb effect of alcohol.

"Eto… I was bullied by a g-group of g-girls." She said, avoiding the dangerous part where she almost got killed. Marui looked at her, filled with concern. She smiled in return to say that it was fine.

"Those fan girls; they're starting to get annoying." Kirihara spoke as he took a fried tempura into his mouth. "Well, they've been annoying from the start." He chewed and swallowed his food. "They're going too far this time." He said as he wiped off the grease from his mouth.

"I-It's okay." Sakuno looked down to her hands that were clasped on her lap. "I'm used to it." She said; her voice filled with sadness as she bear in mind the torture she's been through in Seigaku.

"Eh? What do you mean by that, Sakuno?" Renji never knew that; Inui never told him, probably because Inui didn't care about it.

"Yeah, that's right! Come on, tell us!" Niou and Renji are getting nosy that Sanada shouted at them and gave them 50 laps around the courts in practice as punishment. Sakuno pleaded to lift the punishment and Yukimura affirmed.

"You're lucky, you bastards." Sanada said, good thing his mom wasn't there to hear that, or he could have gotten 50 laps around the block where their house stood.

"It's okay Sanada-senpai." She calmed her senpai and she started telling a part of her life in Seishun Gakuen. "You probably know Echizen Ryoma," she begun.

"You mean that stuck up brat?" Niou said and he didn't care about what he just said. The others said "SHHH!" as they silenced the Trickster and continued to listen to Sakuno.

"Wasn't he your boyfriend?" Renji butted in. Everyone was dumb-struck. That was just plain impossible, they thought.

"I thought he only cared about tennis." Kirihara said, grabbing another tempura. He avoided any contact with Sakuno, since she sat beside him.

"That was what everybody thought," she paused. Now her eyes are so full of unhappiness, as if she was about to cry. "And so did I. Yet it turned out differently."

There was silence. Everybody kept on munching quietly as they listened to Sakuno. "But fate was tricky; when I was with him, I felt like I was the happiest person alive." Her eyes narrowed, about to cry, "But when I was alone, it felt as if the whole world was against me."

"They left letters on my locker, stating threats and said that I should stay away from him. They pulled bad pranks at me as well; they're so bad that they're not pranks anymore. Sometimes they even poured water on me. So I'm used to it."

She suddenly cheered up, freaking them out. "But it's okay now; that was the past, I shouldn't live by it." She smiled and it wasn't a fake one.

Yukimura was curious so he asked, "Where you really happy?"

She nodded, yes, she was happy. Her eyes were shining with a very lively glint. But tears started to flow down her cheeks.

"Sakuno!" they shouted, concerned. She started sobbing.

"I'm so sorry! I shouldn't have asked that question!" Yukimura said as he approached to comfort her.

"It's just that," she sobbed again, tears still falling down relentlessly, "He left everybody without any explanation." She wiped away her tears and breathed in very deeply. "Right now, I still don't know why." She tried to look strong but everyone knew what kind of turbulent feelings she has trapped inside her. She smiled and everyone was relieved.

Niou piped up and threw her a very personal question, "Did you have your first kiss with him?" if he were a dog, you would probably see his tail wagging and patiently waiting for his master to give him a treat.

"Uh… I…" Sakuno's face fired up and she was as red as a tomato.

Jackal nudged Niou's arm and said, "Niou, stop poking your nose where it shouldn't be." Awww, what a very kind nanny Jackal is.

"H-Hai…" she said and nobody was able to hear it because it sounded as if she whispered into the wind. She repeated it with a louder voice and everyone was in disbelief. She remembered how it felt through Marui, she thought that her kiss with Ryoma was the last one she'll make in her life and Ryoma would be the last guy she'll do it with. She was blushing furiously as she remembered her moment with her Marui-senpai.

Marui felt as if he was defeated. 'And I even thought that it was her first time.' He thought and he just continued eating. There was an awkward silence within the group as they chomped on. Niou felt uncomfortable and initiated a conversation.

"Why don't we play a game?" to his surprise, everybody agreed. "A little perky, aren't we?" then they moved to the living room and he took a bottle with him. Sakuno took the empty plates to the kitchen and were washing them as the boys had their fun.

"What are we going to play, Niou-senpai?" Kirihara was curious and he knew that his Niou-senpai will never come up with something boring. _Boring_ isn't in Niou's vocabulary.

"We're going to play…" he paused and he saw the faces of excitement in everyone.

"**Dare or Dare**."

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**There! I've got a lot of catching up to do. I hope you enjoy this one. Why is it when it is a RyoSaku fic, there are a lot of readers?**

**I'm still a KiriSaku fan, no mattter what. Enjoy!**


	11. I Dare You! Part Two

**Disclaimer: I don't own The Prince of Tennis.**

**I hope you like this chapter!**

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**I Dare You Part Two**

"Why don't we play a game?" to his surprise, everybody agreed. "A little perky, aren't we?" then they moved to the living room and he took a bottle with him. Sakuno took the empty plates to the kitchen and were washing them as the boys had their fun.

"What are we going to play, Niou-senpai?" Kirihara was curious and he knew that his Niou-senpai will never come up with something boring. _Boring_ isn't in Niou's vocabulary.

"We're going to play…" he paused and he saw the faces of excitement in everyone. "Dare or Dare." Then he explained the rules and the rules were: To whomever the neck of the bottle points to, has to follow somebody's dare. That somebody is the one who has been dared before the one who is being dared at the given time and that there was no choice between _Truth_ and _Dare_. He spun the bottle and it landed on Yukimura.

"Well, I'm ready for your dares." He smiled and his smile terrified everybody that no one _dared_ to _dare_ him. "What's my dare?" no response.

"Ooookay…" Niou said and decided for everybody. "Why don't you dare the next one to whom the bottle will point to?" Niou saw it fit but Yukimura was disappointed.

"I wanted to be dared." He said as he spun the bottle and the game resumed.

Everybody was afraid to dare him, especially that Sanada's around. They didn't want to be shred to strips.

The boys were having fun and their laughter can be heard in the kitchen. Sakuno has finished washing the dishes and put them away. She wasn't aware what was coming her way.

The others had their turn in being dared and everybody was laughing at Jackal who was flapping his arms like a bird and hopping on one foot with a tie tied around his head. Marui made him stop and Jackal went back to his place and spun the bottle. Unfortunately, it landed on Yukimura.

Jackal felt as if somebody is watching him carefully and if he said something wrong he's as good as dead. Everyone was nervous, Niou to be specific, was shaking on his knees. It was his idea to play Dare or Dare anyway.

Jackal gulped and meekly said, "Drink a glass of that soda." He pointed to the 'safe' soda on the table. Yukimura then felt disappointed again. 'This is the first time I actually felt afraid.' Jackal thought as his buchou went to get his drink and finished it.

Yukimura returned and Jackal sighed in relief. He then spun the bottle. They were silent as they watched the bottle slowly stop at its target. They looked up and saw Kirihara who's happily gulping down the marvelous juice care of Niou.

"Huh? Whu iz it?" he asked and he's drunk now. Poor Akaya, he'll be suffering in the hands of hang over by tomorrow.

Yukimura smiled and Renji recognized his buchou's smile being mischievous and evil. "Come over here, Aka-chan." He ordered and the other followed. Kirihara closed in on him and he whispered something to his ear. If it wasn't for the flush on his face made by the drunkenness, his senpai-tachi could have jeered about him blushing and all.

Kirihara walked off to the kitchen, his legs all wobbly from the alcohol. The others were curious and Yagyu asked Yukimura what he said to Kirihara.

"Go and tell Sakuno that you really like her at the same time hug her close to you." Everyone wanted to follow Kirihara but Yukimura shook his head and said, "Let him be, we'll know the results later on." He smiled at his friends and they waited.

******

Before Kirihara stepped into the kitchen, he suddenly got a grip on his thoughts. Adrenaline started to course down his veins, cancelling the effects of the alcohol. 'What the!?' he thought. His mind suddenly became clear; he felt his heart thumping hard in his chest. He backed away a little and Sakuno hasn't noticed him yet.

'What am I supposed to do? I'm not prepared for this!' he thought. The dare was sudden and he was afraid that he will be rejected. 'Wait, I'm drunk right?' he asked himself and he nodded. 'Sakuno won't notice if I'm serious or not, and even if I am she'll think I'm just kidding. Yeah, that's right.' He rejoiced at his thoughts. He never knew he was quite intelligible.

"Okay, here I go." It took him a lot of time to encourage himself to get it over with. And everyone in the living room was concerned.

"What if he has done something to Sakuno?" Jackal paced to and fro. He was worried about his 'baby sister.'

"He is drunk to boot." They found out what Niou had done to the juice but it was too late. Now he is running around the garden to finish his 50 laps.

"What if he hurts Sakuno?" Jackal was uneasy then Marui tugged his pants and told him to take it easy and sit down. But inside Marui's head, he was worried as well. But he knew in his self that Akaya wouldn't do that. So he sat down, waiting.

******

"Sakuno," Kirihara called which caught her attention. She turned around and saw Kirhara standing near the counter. She washed off the soap suds and dried her hands. She wore an apron that made her look motherly.

'She still looks cute in an apron.' He thought. He didn't push the thought away; there were only two of them in the kitchen and nobody else. He closed the distance between the two of them. Sakuno looked up at him; she feels so comfortable around him more than anybody else in the team probably because they had already met before.

"What is it, Akaya-kun?" she asked teasingly. Niou told her to call Kirihara by his first name. She had her hands behind her back. She didn't notice the blush on Kirihara's face when she called him by his first name.

Kirihara scratched his head, he couldn't say a word. He inhaled and to Sakuno's surprise, his arms locked themselves around her. "Kirihara-senpai!" She felt her hands on his chest. She looked up only to meet emerald eyes gazing into her chocolate ones.

He buried his face into her hair which weren't braided. Then he spoke clearly as he can, "I really like you." She closed her eyes and stayed in his arms for a little while, when her senpai pulled back and turned away.

"I finished the dare. See ya' later." The slur in his speech can be heard.

"S-Senpai?" Sakuno felt a sharp pain in her chest. She did not want to accept it, but she wanted it to be real; she thought it was, but it was another of fate's pranks. She smiled but inside, she wanted to cry. 'You're just venting your emotions on him; you're just lost in your past love.' She thought.

"What? You want to hear something else?" Kirihara said, annoyed at Sakuno. 'Just let it pass as if it didn't happen!' he thought. He didn't want to accept the truth as well- that he was in love.

"About the bento…" she said meekly, trying to change her thoughts "Was it delicious? I mean the food." She bowed a little.

"It stuffed me, alright." He said as he turned around to see Sakuno in her usual stance- bowing down and playing with the hem of something. "It was delicious." He finally said.

"I see. I always get a comment of 'so-so' about my cooking." She remembered Ryoma when he eats food she made. She smiled at Kirihara and said, "Thank you Kirihara-senpai," she paused, "for everything." Then she turned to the dishes, but Kirihara yanked her wrist and hugged her again. She closed her eyes as she let her head rest on his chest. She could hear his heart beating furiously.

"When I hugged you a while ago, it's as if you didn't want to let go." He sought for the right words. Sakuno did not move. "It's as if you immersed yourself in the moment of the act." He felt Sakuno's arms wrap around his waist which caused him to blush heatedly.

"You've never been hugged like this, have you?" Kirihara hit the spot and she looked up at him. He slowly closed in. Sakuno wanted to back away, but Kirihara held her arms.

His lips touched her forehead, a very sweet way to stun her. "That brat made you cry over and over," he paused "I'll beat the crap out of him when I see him." He said determinedly. He let go of his firm but gentle grip on Sakuno's arms and walked away but before he left he said, "Your clothes hide your figure." He spoke without turning his head and continued to the living room.

Sakuno blushed. She held her body as the feeling of her senpai's body lingered on her skin.

"Man, I sounded like a pervert." Kirihara said as he went back to his senpai-tachi who were all looking worried.

They looked at him which was unnerving. "What?" Yagyu stood up and approached him.

"You're not wearing a shirt." Yagyu said and Kirihara looked at himself and found that he wasn't wearing a shirt.

'What the!?' the effect of the adrenaline wore off and the alcohol slowly crept to his senses again. 'I hugged her without a shirt!?' he thought.

Then everybody remembered what they were being worried about. Jackal started, "What did you do to her!?'

"I just did my dare, what's wrong with that?" he said slurred.

Nobody believed him so they all went into the kitchen to see a dazed Sakuno. Jackal shook her and asked, "Did he do something, uh, violating?" Sakuno shook her head. She was still in shock.

"Then what did he do?" Niou was eager to know if their brattling has become a man.

"He hugged me."

"And then?"

"S-Said… s-something." She blushed. Yukimura nodded, it signified that Kirihara did the dare. But Niou was insistent.

"What else?" his face was so close to Sakuno, that Sakuno couldn't hide by bowing.

"Anou… He kissed me… here." She touched her forehead and blushed like a tomato. Marui got serious and Niou then burst into laughter. "What's w-wrong, Niou-senpai?" Sakuno asked.

"Ha! He's still a kid!" Niou was still laughing. Marui went back to the living room where Kirihara was.

"What is it senpai?" he asked without checking who it was, there was no response. He turned his head to look at who it was and it was Marui. Kirihara just looked at him, then the other spoke.

"I thought you were going to back out." He said; his glare stuck on its target resolutely.

"I don't give up that easily senpai." He then spun the bottle which stopped at Marui. He looked at the bottle then to Marui.

"Eh? Seems like I have to give you the dare." He said, not being defeated in the glaring game.

"Bring it on!" Marui taunted.

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**Yay! There, if there are spelling and grammatical errors please tell me. Thanks a lot for reading! Oh look at that! A 'Review this story/chapter' button, it seems to say "Click me! Click me!" haha Thanks again for your reviews, it keeps me going!**


	12. Bonus! Kiss Me, Kiss Me!

**Ohtori-kun came walking by and saw Marui and Kirihara bickering at each other. "What's wrong? A love quarrel?" he said, his face full of innocence.**

**Marui and Kirihara looked at each other then looked at Ohtori who's still there waiting for an answer.**

**"Kill him, devil Akaya!" Kirihara's skin quickly turned red and his hair white. Ohtori ran and passed by Jirou who was happily sleeping on the ground.**

**On their pursuit, they tripped on Jirou, but he didn't budge and mumbled "Wow! A big saint bernard dog is sitting on me!" he giggled and turned to find a more comfortable position. The two stood up and continued their chase.**

**"K' does not own The Prince of Tennis..." he turned again and continued, "Kirihara and Marui aren't in love. They're not gays." then he went silent and little snores can be heard.**

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**Bonus! Kiss Me, Kiss Me**

It was almost ten in the evening and a group of boys are walking quite wobbly in the dimly lit streets. Yukimura was the only one who didn't drink the miracle juice made by Niou, thus he's the one who walks beside Sakuno.

Sakuno turned her head to look at her senpai-tachi who were walking behind them. She noticed that Sanada was trying his best to be normal while Niou and Yagyu were happily marching while singing a nasty song. She giggled and when she saw Kirihara and Marui, she felt sad. Jackal was between the two who seemed agitated.

Yukimura suddenly spoke, "Don't worry about those two. By Monday they will be back to normal." He smiled. There's no reason to not to believe him, because he's been together with the two since junior high.

'Is it my fault again?' she thought, her cute face showed a frown. She remembered as to why her senpai-tachi were fighting.

Their fight stemmed from the Dare or Dare game wherein Kirihara was supposed to dare Marui.

MWMWMWM

"Eh? Seems like I have to give you the dare." He said, not being defeated in the glaring game.

"Bring it on!" Marui taunted.

Kirihara thought carefully. In the back of his mind, his demons were working. 'It certainly is a satisfying sight to see him being tortured.' He thought and so he had a plan going on his mind. He leered evilly while he was still spinning the bottle on the floor and Marui is getting irritated.

"Okay, I thought of something." Marui looked as confident as ever, then he continued, "I dare you to not chew bubblegum for a month!" It took Marui sometime to realize what the other had just said.

'What? No bubblegum for a month?' he thought. Now, anger can be seen from his features, his hands formed a fist. He wanted to grab Kirihara by the shirt but he wasn't wearing a shirt. Marui ruffled his hair in annoyance, his vibrant red hair in shambles.

"I'll kill you, you brat!" he finally shouted which caught the attention of their friends. The others emerged from the kitchen, including Sakuno. The two were squabbling about the dare.

MWMWMWM

The others came out of the kitchen to see what was going on in the living room. They saw Marui and Kirihara going at it, the latter, had a thin line of blood beside his mouth. Sakuno wheezed and tried to stop them but Jackal pulled her and said they will take care of them.

"I finished my dare, why won't you do yours!?" Kirihara shouted as he gave Marui some pummeling on the face. It connected and he smirked. Now they're equals.

"The dare that you're giving me is unfair!" Marui smeared the blood on his lips and looked at his hand and saw a large amount of blood. "Now, you're really getting into my nerves, you twerp!" he lunged to teach him a lesson about not to screw on his senpai, but Renji stopped him, locking his arms around his.

"That's enough, Bunta!" Renji said with an authoritative voice but the one he restrained still fidgeted in his grip. Kirihara chuckled at the sight of his senpai being like that and all. Marui felt anger flow into his head and all he can think of is hit Akaya's head with a racquet. Then he decided to take it to personal matters.

"You're a coward and you can't even tell her how you really feel!" he tried to point at Sakuno but he wasn't able to. But his kohai perceived the message just as he wanted.

"What did you say!?" he growled. Kirihara didn't have anything to say about that. He knew in his self that he sucked at confessing his feelings, but nobody had to rub it on his face. He tried to give his senpai another hit on the visage but Jackal seized him before he could land it on Marui. "Let go of me, you monkey!!" Kirihara ordered and tried to escape from his firm grip but Jackal only stiffened.

Yukimura walked between the two and said, "You two have to cool of some steam first." He was still smiling. He motioned to Jackal and told him to let go of Akaya so they can talk outside. His buchou place a hand on his shoulder and led him outside and he quietly followed.

Renji loosened his grip on Marui and the other jerked his hands and sat on the floor mumbling things which they did not understand.

After seeing the commotion, Niou grinned inwardly instead of pitying the two. He had a great plan running in his mind.

MWMWMWM

After some talk outside, Yukimura gestured that they should be returning inside the house. Surely he thought that Akaya would grab the bait and he'd cool down after a talk, but he didn't. All he did was curse his senpai to death. 'He's a demon, alright.' Yukimura thought.

As they walked into the living room, Kirihara was paralyzed for a moment then came rushing into the crowd made by his senpai-tachi. He brushed away the others and saw in the center Marui and Sakuno going to kiss…

Lips to lips.

MWMWMWM

"So…" Niou started as the others looked at him and so did the angry Marui (oh it rhymes!). "Let's continue the game!" he exclaimed, his excitement is on super-high levels.

"But who will replace Akaya? He's supposed to dare Bunta if I'm not mistaken." Yagyu inquired as their rules stated so.

"I'll replace him!" he said with his head up high. Everybody was suspicious. Niou never did something good. "You're dared to…" there were drum rolls in the background and Marui gulped, waiting for the judgment.

'If it's Niou, even I am not safe. What kind of terrible thing would he make me do?' Though you can say he's the closest thing to a friend that Niou has, relationships don't work for Niou when it comes to pranks and torture.

"…kiss Sakuno on the lips in front of us!"

"…" Silence was there, and nobody dared to call its name. Everyone's jaw dropped to the floor. Marui was dumb-struck and Sakuno just gasped. No way will she do it in front of everyone! Her face turned into the deepest shade of red as her Yagyu-senpai grabbed her in bridal style to be put in front of Marui and be kissed.

"Let m-me down, Yagyu-senpai!" Indeed, Yagyu did put her down, but in front of Marui who's mustering all his strength to do it in front of his friends.

'If I don't do it, it will hurt my pride!' Sometimes men have problems about their prides, and now is the moment wherein Marui has to face his. 'It's Sakuno anyways. I guess I'll _enjoy_ it.' He thought. He remembered the velvet feel of her lips when they accidentally kissed that evening.

"Oh God, here I go." Marui leaned in for the kill. Sakuno was too stunned to move and even if she did, Niou's hands are on her shoulders to stop her from escaping.

She just closed her eyes. That's what she always does.

MWMWMWM

Sakuno closed her eyes and Kirihara quickly took a stride to reach them. He pushed her aside that she stumbled on the floor; then he turned to Marui ready to give him some beating. Niou was surprised that Kirihara arrived to destroy his plans. Niou countered, pushing Kirihara to Marui, the latter who still has his lips puckered but quickly pulled out of his position to evade Kirihara's body crashing onto him. Unfortunately, it all happened too fast.

A loud thud was heard as they fell on the floor. Everyone rushed to help them when they saw a very embarrassing moment, a moment that should have not occurred if Kirihara did not interrupt the dare.

Marui's lips found its way on Kirihara's cheek, only millimeters away from his lips. Oh they sure were blushing like they are being baked in hell. They jolted out of their position each wiping off the icky feeling of their body parts that made contact with each other.

"Ah, fuck! Yuck!" Kirihara said as he pulled himself away from his senpai while swabbing away the alien feeling on his cheek.

Marui quickly swiped his hand over his lips, wishing that that didn't happen. He went to the bathroom but before that he yanked Sanada asking if they have a spare toothbrush and some mouthwash. Sanada directed him and he quickly did his oral hygiene.

Niou was doing his evil laugh that went "BUHAHAHAHA!" then proceeded on teasing Kirihara about him being a gay or so. "You probably did it so you can steal a kiss from your Marui-senpai, didn't you?"

Aside from being embarrassed, Akaya was angry at the fact that it was Niou's fault that he landed on Marui. Oh, he sure could vent some of the anger on him. Yeah. He closed his eyes and when they slit open, they were bloodshot. He looked at his senpai with ferocity in his eyes.

Instead of being afraid, Niou just laughed and continued to tease him. They're bickering can be heard in the whole house. Marui returned while wiping his mouth with a towel and joined to have a three-way wrestling. The others sweat-dropped and turned to Sanada in hopes for making them stop, but he was enjoying himself, cheering on somebody to grapple somebody.

All of a sudden, the door swung open and appeared Sanada's Okaa-san. She stomped her foot, its strength enough to bring the whole house down. She pointed to the three who were trying their best to kill each other and ordered "20 LAPS AROUND THE BLOCK WHERE THIS HOUSE STANDS!!" They stopped in an instant to look at who ordered them. They saw her, red with fury for her house has been disrupted by a group of teenagers without manners.

Kirihara protested, so as Marui and Niou then she shouted "25!"

"But!" the three complained but she retorted, "No buts! 27!" They hurriedly went out of the living area and took their shoes. Yagyu threw a shirt to Kirihara and they ran for it, no one knows if she will draw a katana from its sheath and chase them.

"Hmmmm. So that explains it." There was a flurry of words on Renji's paper as he wrote with incredible speed. "So it runs in the blood." He smiled. His writing was stopped when Sanada's mom ordered all of them there to clean up the mess that they made. They did not complain; all were afraid of punishment.

After a few minutes, they were able to straighten up the living room and they plopped on the couch. "Whew! Glad that was over!" Jackal sighed and wondered how his partner was doing. They arrived, pulling their legs as they limped from their long run. So much for they're supposed to be happy night, now turned into one hell of a nightmare.

MWMWMWM

And so, that explains the tension between the two. Both still feeling awkward from the kiss.

End of Kiss Me, Kiss Me.

**A request and co-written by rebeccasanfujieijilvr**.

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**There, all done! I hope I get more readers with this! Just kidding. I'm not much of a Yaoi fan. Thanks again to rebeccasanfujieijilvr for the idea and thank you to all my reviewers! You keep me going!**

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	13. Chapter 13

**A long mushy chapter just for you guys. Hope you all enjoy it to your hearts content. **

**Disclaimer: I do not own the Prince of Tennis.**

**Has she been healed?**

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After the party the guys decided to walk with Sakuno to her home, with wobbliness and sheer tension between Kirihara and Marui altogether. They arrived at her house's doorstep and Sanada pressed the doorbell. He felt like running and hiding somewhere to do a doorbell prank. Sannen na, nobody is in the mood.

The door opened and Kirihara squawked. 'It's her again! The old hag!' he thought with grimace on his face. A few months back he was welcomed by her misdirected rage. He was lucky enough that Sakuno was there to protect him.

"Am I late, Baa-chan?" she asked. Her granny couldn't answer; the boys in front of her silenced her in surprise.

She bowed low and the captain of the team smiled at her. "Thank you for taking care of my granddaughter." She said and straightened up. Then she looked at Sakuno, who sheepishly smiled at her. She knew she did something wrong.

"Why didn't you tell me that you're new friends were the Rikkai regulars, Sakuno?" she was a bit angry that her grandchild actually did keep secrets from her and she thought she knew her too well. She put her hands on her hips and waited for an answer.

"Anou…" she blushed. It was just a simple matter and she didn't have to hide it from her grandmother. Sumire sighed and a feisty Kirihara piped up and butted in.

"You know, old lady, it doesn't matter whom she chooses as her friends." He said with utter insolence. A vein popped on Sumire's head and she walked towards Kirihara and grabbed him on the shirt, willing to give him some thrashing.

"Of course it matters to me!" she paused to take a deep breath and let go of the punk. Getting angry is bad for her. "Especially when it's the likes of you that she's being friends with!" she continued. She walked back to Sakuno and bowed still thanking them, except Kirihara.

"This old witch just doesn't know anything!" he mumbled, only the words witch and anything were clear. Sakuno just smiled and they left as the door was shut.

That following Monday, Sakuno was quite early in the rooftop, on her own while reading a book. Her legs lie straight on the floor close to each other. She was waiting for the bell to ring the signal of lunch break as she took the leisure of reading her book. And so it rung and after a few minutes, a boy with ruffled dark hair came out of the door and to where she was.

He blushed as the girl parted her attention from the book and to him .She smiled as the soft winds played with her bangs over her chocolate eyes. He suddenly remembered his cool attitude when he's with her and said, "Eh? You're quite early today, ne?" he asked as he sat a little far beside her. He rubbed his stomach while fantasizing what she had made him today for his lunch. Yeah, he's a free-loader alright.

"My teacher was absent, so my class before lunch break was cancelled." She said.

"Hey, where's my lunch?" he demanded from her the only thing he has been waiting for the entire day.

"Mou… Akaya-kun! You could at l-least be p-polite." She said as she held out the bento. He tried to grab it but she pulled it too fast. She put out her tongue, teasing her _playmate_. Kirihara pouted and pleaded with puppy dog eyes.

'Ha! Beat that, Marui-senpai!' He thought what he had just showed her was an achievement. Those sexy green eyes and lips will make anyone bend to his cuteness.

She giggled and gave him the bento. He merrily ate and commented on how good she was.

He was half-way through his food when his Marui-senpai sprouted out of nowhere like a mushroom and demanded sweets from Sakuno.

"Oh c'mon! I know you have some! Pretty please!" he begged for those sweet treasures that Sakuno was keeping from him. He pleaded like a five year old pre-schooler and his plea was granted and he happily chomped on brownies. He glared at Kirihara and conveyed a telepathic message 'Beat that brattling!'

Kirihara took one for his desert and quickly got into a fight with his senpai. Marui has claimed it all for himself and the other snapped and said "You don't own all of them! Sakuno just gave you some." then he stuffed the brownie into his mouth. His senpai just released a gruff "Fine!"

Sakuno looked at the two, who both had small plastic bandages on the edge of their lips that reminded her of their fight. She placed her hands over their cheeks and the two faces flared up.

Kirihara continued to chew for a moment with her hand on his face followed by lightly slapping Sakuno's hand away. (One of his denials again, poor kid.)

Sakuno just smiled but Marui hissed at his kohai for doing such a thing to Sakuno. "Oi, brattling, you shou-" Sakuno cut him off by announcing that she won't be able to come to their practice anymore because she had joined the girls' tennis club.

The two were surprised at her sudden decision. Both of them agreed that she should have just waited till she was a senior high student.

"They're considering on making me a regular." She smiled. Unknown to the two, she was a regular in Seigaku before she transferred to Rikkai.

That afeternoon, the regulars of the boys' team were watching a match played by a girl with auburn hair pulled into two braids.

As she emerged from the court, after being pitted against two good players consecutively, Marui approached her and told her how great her matches were. Everyone was giving her assuring nods but for her there was something lacking. Some guy who has se- I mean outstanding emerald eyes wasn't in the crowd that congratulated her.

She looked through the throng and found him far from them, he sporting a small smile on his lips and nodded to her performance as a sign of satisfaction. She smiled and her smile seemed to melt her target like chocolate under the warm sun.

The group went back to their practice and noted that it will be a lot different without her, or Marui thought. All of them were happy yet sad at the same time, even Sanada who's famous for the 'block of wood' personality.

******

She was walking home with her bag slung on her shoulders. She made sure that she went home early or else her senpai will be angry.

'Go straight home after your practice. I'm not Him to be there to save you from getting into trouble!' he bonked her head gently, his own unique way of _patting_. She remembered as he told her before they parted as lunch break was about to be finished.

"Yes, senpai! I won't get into trouble again!" she whispered to herself.

She then contemplated on the comments of the other members of the tennis club as to why she's that good in the sport. It reminded her of the boy she met in the train, yes, the prodigy who introduced her to the sport itself.

She felt herself wince at the thought and something welled in her- all the pain from their bad break up. She shook her head and tried to forget it and convinced herself that she was just tired.

She arrived home, ate supper and took a warm bath to relieve her from the stress. Tomo-chan had called and was somehow able to make her relax a bit.

After her rough day, she dumped herself on the bed and slept like a baby.

**Earlier that day, somewhere on the other side of the globe**

"Eh? Isn't it about time you faced the truth, Ryoma?" Kevin was angry at the so-called Prince of Tennis who is concentrating on his upcoming match which was just weeks away.

"Could you shut it Kevin?" annoyed at the blonde's ranting.

"Tennis isn't everything!" he looked at Ryoma who's merrily drinking his grape flavored Ponta. "Arrrgh! It's almost half a year Echizen! Isn't it about time-" the other cut him off with a serious you-shut-up-or-I-will-make-you glare with his cat-like eyes and said "You're ruining my peaceful time, so bug off!" he waved his hand at the livid boy's face which made the other red with anger.

"You're just a coward." He paused, waiting for a rebuttal but there wasn't. He continued, "One day you will have to face the truth that you had hurt her and she is not waiting for you to come back." Kevin punctuated his sentence with a turn to walk away from his so-called friend and out of the court where they practiced.

He knew well how bothered Ryoma was but he chose his dream but not the girl who makes him feel complete.

Ryoma sighed. It's true that it was a hard decision, on who or what to choose. Really, the fact that his dream could come true right now just made him think that she'll understand him and wait. Unluckily, things are turning the opposite way he predicted it.

Sakuno's not dumb and she's not a martyr either. Oh, if Ryoma could only see what's going on in her life, he'll regret that he chose to leave her.

**Time Heals All Wounds**

It's not just the boys' tennis team that gathers a large amount of spectators. The girls' team doesn't have a plan on being defeated, especially if in their team there's this girl, whose grace in the court appealed to all those who watched; though this girl has had some embarrassing moments because of her clumsiness.

A lot of admirers flock over her and other girls can't keep themselves from getting jealous. She had grown more beautiful and more womanly as days passed by. And those who like her, she had turned them down in the most polite manner that she could generate. She had managed to befriend a few for the others held grudges against her.

If she wasn't with her team, she would be with her friends and more often, she would be with her _other _team.

As she walked towards the tennis courts, she had caught a lot of attention. She hasn't got used to it yet, still eager to know as to why she was _head turning_.

She carried in her arms a bag, which by now we all know what it contains. She sat down on a patch of grass under the shade of a tree as she waited for her friends to finish their practice. The regulars would approach her, checking out what she's got this time.

"Muffins! I really love them!" said Marui, picking which one to start with. Just as he was able to choose, somebody swiped it from his grasp. "Grrrrr!! That's mine, you punk!" he scowled at his kohai who is taking his time enjoying his muffin.

The other said "I thought it was Sakuno that you loved. Why the sudden change of heart?" he sat down beside the auburn-head girl who has pink cheeks.

Nobody dared to tease him at his sudden move for if they did, it's as if they had messed with The Devil himself. Except for Niou, who always got away with it.

"You're quite bold today, ne?" he teased and took a muffin for himself.

"S-Shut up!" Kirihara managed to say something which was better than not saying anything. Sakuno just giggled at her senpai-tachi picking on each other. She knew well how much each of them adored her, particularly Marui and Kiriahara. She's not dense not to notice.

"Don't you have practice today, Sakuno-chan?" Yukimura asked, his oh-so-godly smile worn on his face.

"I do. But it's not that bad to skip once in a while, ne?" Everyone was horrifed as the words spilled out of her mouth.

"S-Sakuno!?" Jackal was worried. She ought to stay away from Niou and Kirihara who are laid back people. He wanted to grab her and shake her frantically but Sakuno then spoke.

"Silly! I was just kidding!" she giggled at the appalled faces of her senpais, all worried about her, ditching practice and stuff. She is hanging around Niou too much; she even got to pull their legs.

She stopped giggling like a little girl as Kirihara glared at her. She pouted her pout #13 as he sighed.

"Anou… Our practice was dismissed early today." She was back to her normal self but without the frequent stuttering. "Sensei said that we shouldn't over-practice." She took a muffin and chomped.

Marui caught Niou in a headlock as a punishment. "You're corrupting her gentle nature!" he said as he tightened his grip on the Trickster.

He clawed into the other's arm to let him go but to no avail.

"He's turning blue, Marui-senpai!" she pointed at Niou who is out of air in his grip. Then Marui let go, the other crawling on the grass and wheezing.

Then the bickering routine would start. Everyone was too occupied on making them stop and Kirihara would use the opportunity to his advantage. He leaned closer to her, his head propped on her shoulder while he munched on his treat. No one would see anyway.

Everyone knew that they have a special bond with each other, even Marui. But he hadn't given up just yet. He'd say, 'No! Not yet! I'll have my personal patisserie with her!' There's still hope of stealing her from his stupid kohai. So it was just for the sweet things that she made, but Sakuno loved him for who he is, a sugar-loving guy to whom she shared her cookies and cakes with, as a _friend_. Poor guy. He still hasn't given up even though Kirihara and Sakuno are in a relationship that's a secret from everyone (now you know! It's not a secret anymore!).

He still remembered Akaya's confession about a month ago like it was yesterday. Surely it made him angry, but it was fair play and he could still eat some of Sakuno's treats.

_Flashback:_

_It was February fourteen and every fan girl in Rikkai was giving chocolates to her favorite player. And as usual, Marui and Kirihara were in the rooftop waiting for Sakuno._

_The truth is, they were hiding here to avoid what Kirihara calls 'annoying fan girls'. Sakuno arrived with Kirihara's lunch in tow and some sweet stuff. She waited for them to finish so she could give them her gifts._

"_Yay! Sakuno's special chocolates!" they weren't just ordinary chocolates for Marui and he started devouring his. Kirihara took his time in inspecting his share of the chocolates which made hersad and stutter as she spoke._

"_I-If you don't l-like them senpai, y-you could j-just say s-so." She meekly said as she bowed to hide her flushed face. She wanted to cry._

"_Sakuno," he called and she jerked her head up. Her eyes were lined with tears threatening to fall._

"_Pull yourself together! God damn it!' the last thing that he wanted was to see Sakuno cry. He sat beside her and put his hands on her shoulders. Marui was unaware of what his kohai was about to do for he was too busy with his chocolates._

"_I really like you!" he shook his head, "NO! Ever since I first saw you I had loved you!" he raised a brow at the lines he said; cliché anyone? _

_Sakuno just stared, stared and stared some more. She was shocked and Kirihara wanted to slap her for that but he can't bring himself to do that. Instead, he hugged her and repeated what he just said. _

_At that very moment, Marui remembered that he was with somebody and turned to Sakuno only to see Kirihara's arms around his pastry angel. He stood up to pry him off of her but was stopped by his kohai's words._

"_I really love you and I hope you feel the same." He said and Sakuno started to cry. He heard her sobs and pulled back to look at her. "I'm sorry, I-" Sakuno cried more. Kirihara didn't know what to do and his panicking. Marui walked off; he felt he wasn't needed there. _

_At the stairs to what Kirihara claimed to be his heaven, Marui sat on a step, his head between his hands. He took a fresh strip of bubblegum out of his pocket and put it into his mouth but he just can't get himself to chew. The sweet taste of the gum lingered on his tongue. He looked up to the door and murmured to himself then walked away._

"_I've lost, huh?"_

******

_She wiped away her tears and mustered her voice. She was smiling and started giggling but there were still sobs. "Kirihara-senpai, I mean Akaya-kun," he blushed. She couldn't speak anymore, the sobs overcoming her ability to do so. He pulled her into another hug and she buried her face on his chest. She spoke with all her might her words muffled by his chest which made Akaya smile and tightened his firm but gentle hold of her._

******

He continued eating his muffin as he watched his senpai-tachi fight. "Well, what do ya' know? A snack and a show." He said while smirking.

Sakuno handed him his drinking bottle, just like a psychic who foresaw an event. He choked and to everyone's surprise, before he could release a cough or two, she had given him water. He chugged down the contents of the bottle into his throat to free his airway from whatever had disrupted it function.

"Whew!" he was relieved and placed his bottle down.

"That's what you get for taking pleasure from somebody's demise!" she said with a hint of teasing in her voice. He just made a current of air come out of his mouth which is what you call a burp. The others turned to them and a certain red-head saw how close they were to each other.

"You were doing something to Sakuno, weren't you!?" Marui got annoyed. He liked Sakuno and he didn't want anybody close to his 'little pastry angel'.

"Ummm…" Kirihara thought. "Yeah. We were about to _play some_ _tonsil hockey_." Sakuno blushed. In other words, he meant French kiss. Bad Akaya!

Marui grabbed him on the shirt and started arguing with him.

"What? Don't tell me you want _some_ too." Marui got disgusted. The last time he kissed him, accidentally, he wasn't just disgusted, more like sickened to death. Kissing a guy didn't ever occur in his mind. He suddenly let go of him and his kohai grinned for being able to repel his senpai.

Renji was writing a lot of things on his notebook about Marui disgusted at the very thought of kissing another guy. "Interesting matter..." He said.

Everybody laughed and the regulars were happy that little Sakuno has gotten over that brat in a few months. It was all thanks to The Devil who chose to _Rise_ with the hurt angel that found its way to him.

* * *

**It ain't over yet! Please don't think like that. Ryoma still hasn't appeared officially yet as the third contestant. Thanks for everyone who reads my fic! Thank you, thank you. **

**_The story is coming to a close, how will it end? With a death of a person that will change her entire life? _**

**Find out for yourselves.**

* * *


	14. Chapter 14

**"Hey Ryoma! Do your part properly, get that?"**

**"Wiz." he said and a tennis ball hit his head. "Ow! Who did that!?" then he looked at Akaya who was whistling innocently. "You're the one who did that, weren't you?" he accused him of the crime.**

**"What are you talking about?" **

**"Quit lying! You're the one who did it!" then the two bickered at each other. Niou quietly grinned in the background as he was readying himself to throw another ball at them.**

**"K' does not own The Prince of Tennis and it's characters!" then he threw a ball at Akaya.**

* * *

**Welcome the Prince**

"Where could she be?" Jackal was pacing to and fro as his little sister hasn't arrived yet.

"We can't wait for her. This is a more important matter." Yukimura steeled himself not thinking of anything harmful happening to Sakuno.

"She will miss my match! NOOOO!" Marui exclaimed. He wanted his pastry angel to be there and she promised him a chocolate cake. (The cake's more important! It'll help his stamina. XD )

The introduction of the players had finished and the matches were about to start and their goddess of victory hasn't arrived yet.

Yagyu and Niou were getting ready for the match, trying their best to concentrate on their game. "Did she get lost again?" Yagyu inferred. Judging Sakuno, it's not far from happening.

"That doesn't matter now, Hiroshi. Let's go!" Niou commanded and his partner followed. They approached the net to shake hands with their opponents. Everyone in the team was worried, especially Jackal and Marui.

Kirihara had left after the opening ceremonies and he was somewhere away from the court as he held his phone and dialed a certain number. He heard from the device a ringing sound, a sign that he was being connected to whoever he was trying to call.

After a few seconds, somebody picked up the phone and spoke, her voice seemed flustered. "Moshi moshi"

"Sheesh! Don't tell me you got lost again!" he scolded the person on the other line.

"Gomen, senpai!" he heard her voice faltering as if she was catching her breath.

"Where are you now?" he asked as he moved through the crowd.

"I'm here at the entrance… Anou…" she was shy and he had a hint that if he didn't go there she'll just get lost.

"Fine, fine. I'm coming so just wait there, okay?" he heard a small yes and he hung up then he proceeded on fetching the special package.

The spectators were looking at him as he made his way to the rendezvous point. He just ignored their pointless chatter about their team and a particular girl. As he approached the entrance, he spotted a brown haired girl standing there, waiting for somebody. Her back faced him, and she wasn't aware that he was closing in. He bonked her head lightly and she was startled.

"Kirihara-senpai!" she rejoiced, at least she had somebody to talk to. She didn't want to be alone on herself. She bowed and her hair slowly trailed down. "Gomenasai!" she heard footsteps that implied that her senpai had already turned to go back to his team's match.

She closely followed him. He is wearing his jacket, loosely hanging on his body. She was almost running to his senpai's pace since she was short and had a short stride. She was too shy to tell him to slow down; instead, she caught the edge of his jacket and tugged on it. Kirihara looked over his shoulder to see Sakuno grappling his clothing.

He turned and bonked her head once more, "You could have just told me to slow down." He wore that scary face but his voice wasn't, in respect to his expression.

Sakuno was about to bow as an apology but he grabbed her wrist which made her blush. "S-Senpai!" he yanked lightly and she followed him. Their fingers were entwined with each other's as they walked through the nosy and noisy crowd. He didn't care what they are saying.

"Really, you're such a baby!" he said, quite annoyed. She just smiled. They arrived at the court where Niou and Yagyu were having a match. They were having a break from the change court and she apologized to everybody. Marui hugged her and was glad that she was safe. Her senpai-tachi were finally able to relax. She looked at the score and was surprised that Rikkai was lagging behind.

"Now we can concentrate better." Yagyu smiled at her as his glasses glinted in the sun's rays. Niou just smirked and faced Sakuno. "Princess, you owe us a lot!" he said which confused her. He returned to his game and they were able to recover the situation.

There were loud cheering around the court as Niou and Yagyu scored. "Game, set and match to Niou-Yagyu pair, 6 games to 3." The umpire announced and the two shook hands with their opponents.

Yukimura gave them a warm smile and there were no traces of anger and disappointment. He knew that they were worried about the team's honorary member because she often gets into trouble. They walked out of the courts and Niou glared at Sakuno who then sunk into her seat and was red of embarrassment.

Niou smiled and patted her head "Glad that you're not hurt or lost or anything." He paused as he sat beside her and wiped the sweat on his face with a towel. "What a pain in the ass you are, princess." He said.

"Mou… Niou-senpai! Please don't call me that. And I-I'm not a pain in the a-ass!" She said in a shy tone with pout #9; her senpai just chuckled. Niou had referred to her as princess ever since she got close to the team. Marui and Jackal had started their ritual before each game they played. Sakuno gave the cake that she brought for Marui and he gladly ate it. Jackal shaved his head as memory of his past coach.

"Let's see these guys bow down to me." Marui bragged. He's not a tensai for nothing. In fact, they completely crushed their opponents head on without using special techniques.

He looked at Niou and stuck out his tongue. "Beat that!" he bragged again. He didn't hear his friend growl at him since he chose not to pay any attention to him.

"Why you big lump of fat!" Niou screeched but he was disregarded.

Next was singles-three match and Kirihara Akaya was going to play. Unknown to him and the team, some guys in blue and white were watching their games. Some spiky haired boy scribbled a lot of things into his notebook as he observed the play. A boy who was wearing a smile suddenly frowned as Kirihara made his way towards the net. The others just continued to watch.

The people in the audience recognized the group of boys and one of them stated quite loudly, "It's the Seigaku regulars!" Yukimura's team was not even affected about their presence in their game though there was a heavy tension between the two teams. After all, these teams have been going at each other for quite a while for the championship title.

Together with the boys were some other Seigaku students and one of them recognized somebody in Rikkai's side.

"Isn't that Ryuzaki?" Horio said as his Momo-senpai sought the said girl. Then they spotted her, talking to the one who was about to play in the court. "Seems like she's cheering him…" Horio just stated the obvious. Momo caught him in a headlock.

"EH!? Why is she doing that? Of all the people to cheer on, why him!?" Momo grunted as his kohai tried to get out of the lock.

"We should just pay attention to the game, Momo." Fuji said, his eyes were still closed but Momo felt him glare. He let go of Horio and did what he was told.

Sakuno heard that the Seigaku regulars were there, scouting they're future opponents and scanned through them. 'He's not there. He's probably somewhere around the world.' She thought. She cheered on Kirihara and told him what he should not forget. "Don't hurt the other player!" Kirihara just shrugged. She showed him a frown that he ignored and concentrated on his play.

As he played, some boy drinking a canned soda came to the group of the Seigaku regulars. The boys were surprised and he spoke "Mada mada dane, senpai." and continued to drink his soda. Kikumaru glomped on him and gave him a death hug.

"O-chibi, we missed you!" and he noticed the height difference "Eh? You've grown!" he was surprised though he can still call the other o-chibi.

"Echizen, you could have told us that you were coming back!" Momo whined since he came back so suddenly. "You come and go with a surprise." He said. The new arrival searched for someone in the group but was disappointed upon discovering that _she _wasn't there.

"If you're looking for Sakuno, she's over there." Tomo said with sadness in her voice.

Ryoma followed her finger and saw her with a red-head close to her and some other guys wearing jerseys close to the color of yellow. He tried to look like he does not care but inside him he was angry. 'What's going on?' thousands of thoughts run in his mind upon seeing her with the opposing team.

******

He finished his game quickly, without using such harmful tactics on his opponent. Their whole match has ended and they all shook hands with the other team over the net. The Rikkai regulars exited the courts and a lot of cheering was in the air. She congratulated them with her smile and faced a certain green-eyed boy. "Thanks for not hurting the one you played with." The other just turned his head on the opposite direction and tried to ignore her.

The Seigaku regulars headed to their own game but the others wanted to talk to Sakuno who's with the Rikkai regulars.

Momoshiro approached her and waved. Sakuno saw them and left her companions for a while to talk to her old friends. As she walked closer she saw a very familiar face, a face that she hasn't seen in almost a year and a half. "Welcome back, Ryoma-kun." She said with a smile which was genuine from her heart. (The song Green Bird from Cowboy Bebop started to play as background music. ;P )

Akaya heard and quickly turned his head to the punk. He just watched him come near his kohai, his eyes fiery with fury.

Ryoma had lots of things to say and to explain but in himself he knew that she might not listen. He insisted that the Sakuno _he_ _knew _would hear him out but to his luck it's not going to happen. "Sakuno, I-"

Sakuno cut him off, her eyes narrowed and her feelings are mixed anger and loneliness. "Echizen, you s-shouldn't waste y-your time explaining to me. I'm a-afraid I won't understand you." She said and she took a deep breath and continued, "That's the reason why you left abruptly. Am I wrong?"

Her words cut through him like sharp razors. He looked into her chocolate eyes that were about to let a river of tears flow. "Sakuno, I'm sorry…" he looked down to the ground. He didn't know what else to do but apologize.

"It's okay, I accept your apology," She smiled but tears came running down her cheeks. Kirihara saw her cry, and it was the worst thing that he ever despised (though he made her cry many times). He agreed in himself that he will approach after she tongue lashed that brat. He deserved it after all.

"Sakuno!" a smile played on his lips even though he tried so hard to put on his poker face. The others that came with him were also happy, thinking that she'll be coming back.

"But that doesn't m-mean that I c-completely forgive you." She said with the sobbing interrupting some of her words. She sounded bitter. Kirihara walked over to Sakuno. Ryoma watched him as he placed a hand on her shoulder. His eyes narrowed more and pain shot through his heart as she hugged him.

"Akaya-kun… sob." Kirihara grimaced. He put his arms around her to give her comfort.

"Stop crying, you know how much I hate it." The people from Seigaku were shocked at this show of sympathy from Kirihara.

The other's mouths were wide open. Marui neared her as well to comfort her. Ryoma just watched. He was angry, confused and jealous at the same time. Marui took her from Kirihara and he turned to glare at the brat who just arrived to destroy her good life _again_.

"Sakuno, there's-" he wanted to say so many things but the boy in front of him showed a very annoyed expression and cut him off.

"You had ruined her life in the past and now you're here to do it again?" he said, anger showing from his bodily twitches. He's very angry that he can beat him to the ground, black and blue. He clenched his fists, ready to give him some basting.

Ryoma was in disbelief. He expected her to listen to him and give him a smile that he was yearning for all that time he was away. "Why can't it be the way it was before, Sakuno?" he said looking past Kirihara and to the auburn haired girl. He bit his lower lip; he was in a terrible situation where he could lose her.

"Not all things happen twice, Ryoma-kun." She said as she forced the thought into his thick skull. Then she walked away with Marui. He tried to follow her but Kirihara stopped him with his deadly glares. _I had lost her._

"Just try hurting her again and I will kill you." He said taking a few steps back then turned to trail behind Sakuno and his senpai.

******

Marui faced Kirihara and told him that he will catch up to the others who decided to watch Seigaku's match. He and Sakuno were left, her sobs were heart breaking.

"Should I take you home?" he suggested. She looked at him with her puffy eyes and shook her head. She turned around to evade her senpai's gaze and sighed. "I know everything's not okay, but," he paused to face her and brushed away hair that covered her eyes. "The others are worried." He smiled at her; it might help her cheer up.

She finally looked at him, his smile made her lighten up a bit. "Thank you senpai." She flinched when Kirihara put a hand on her cheek and kissed her forehead. "Hee hee. You n-need not do t-that, Akaya-kun." She giggled as Akaya parted from her and took her hand and they headed for the court where Seigaku's match was being held.

******

Ryoma watched as they walked away. He remembered well how Sakuno hugged Kirihara Akaya, burying her face into his shoulder. He suddenly remembered what Kevin said. "_One day you will have to face the truth that you had hurt her and she is not waiting for you to come back_." He winced in pain as he had realized how wrong he was.

Tezuka was right. People tend to choose the option that which best suits the current situation and in the end, all they have is disappointment. Tomo-chan tried to console him. He was too stupid not to realize that he was mistaken. He walked with his shoulders slouching, as if they carried the whole world.

******

Yukimura spotted the two. He smiled at them and opened his arms to welcome Sakuno. Sakuno moved towards her senpai and closed in with a hug. Yukimura was happy that she was back to being the cheerful girl they always adored. He let go and Jackal hugged her as well. "I heard everything from Marui." his face went a little sad. They all knew what had happened to Sakuno.

"Iie, senpai. Daijoubu-desu yo." Sakuno smiled and everybody was relieved. They all returned to watching Seishun's players strut their stuff as they easily defeated their opponents.

Marui whistled as the Golden Pair won the match quickly. "Guess they haven't changed." He remembered their loss to them at the Nationals. The team stayed to watch the remaining matches and Kirihara was paying good attention to his enemy who's also watching the match.

Sometimes he would steal a glance at Sakuno but Kirihara just let him do so, besides he can't do anything but that anymore, though it was unnerving for him.

"Are we going to have another party?" Niou asked. They always have parties since last year- the year that Sakuno transferred to Rikkai.

"Of course, we will be having another." Yukimura seconded the act. Sanada frowned He has been against the parties because he believes that the team is slacking too much.

"Seiichi, haven't we had enough of that?" he faced Yukimura who just beamed at him. He felt himself shudder somehow and just sighed. There was no way that he will be able to stop Yukimura's decisions.

That night, they held a party at the Kirihara residence. His parents are away for a while so they can have all the fun that they want. As usual Sakuno was the one who made the food so appealing that they stuffed themselves to eternity, praising her at the same time. They also made the miraculous juice to make the party more fun and enjoyable. Sakuno even drank some of it; she was unaware of the vodka.

Everybody was perky and friendly except for Yukimura. He sighed; he has to take care of them since he's the only one with sure sanity. Even Sakuno was a prankster and Niou directed her on how to pull good pranks.

They were playing Dare or Dare again. The unlucky one was always Sanada. The others would make him do stupid dares. Too bad, this wasn't practice and if it were, they're faces could have been swollen, including Sakuno. Sakuno just laughed at him every time he did a dare.

Sakuno quit early on and went to the patio to think about _some things_. She was thinking if what she did was right, to push him away without hearing him out. She is not denying that there is still _some_ left in her heart but what about _now_? What about the _now_ that is taking good care of her and the one that is protecting her and the one she currently loves? She was confused, but she puts in the consideration that Ryoma had hurt her. What she thought back then was right. It seemed that Ryoma was in another world, too far for her to reach.

She heard the sliding door open and she looked at who had joined her. "Yo! Been doing some thinking?" he said with some minor slur in his speech. She nodded and he sat at one of the chairs, across her. He looked at her, and saw that she has been crying. He reached for her cheeks with both of his hands and tears started falling down once more.

By seeing her cry, he got sadder and sadder every tear that fell. "Sakuno," he called to get her attention and leaned in to give her a kiss. They kissed and he felt warmer than before. He pulled away and wiped away her tears. He stood up and came close to her and she wrapped her arms around his waist, her head leaning on his masculine trunk.

"Kirihara-senpai, I don't know what to do." She spoke as his fingers combed through her hair. Then a ringing sound was heard. Sakuno recognized the tone and took her phone from her pocket.

"Is Sumire-baa-san calling you? What time is it anyway?" Kirihara asked as he looked at the screen of the phone. Sakuno's curfew is at ten o'clock.

Sakuno shook her head as she pointed that the person who is calling her is not registered. Only the phone number appeared. So, she decided to answer it and was shocked to hear who was in the other end. "Ryoma-kun" she said with disbelief. Then her questions came back to her. Should she hear his explanation? She looked confused and his voice cracked from the device, calling her name. She looked at Kirihara who nodded in response to her asking eyes.

"What is it Ryoma-kun?" she spoke and her voice sounded as that of a drunkard.

"Sakuno? Is that you? You sound different." Ryoma said, baffled at her tone.

She was getting impatient plus the fact that she is drunk and didn't have that much control on her cognitive processes, she half-shouted at him. "Just tell me what you want to know!"

Now Ryoma is more baffled by her sudden change. 'Have I been long gone?' he asked himself but returned to reality. "Are you drunk!? Where are you?" he demanded an answer from her.

Sakuno shot up out of her seat and Kirihara was surprised that he almost fell of his chair. "So what if I am, huh?" she paused "You're not my goody-good boyfriend anymore Echizen, so why do you care?" she spouted words full of anger and annoyance.

'Whoa! She's scary!' Kiriahara made a mental note not to make her angry or he'll meet his doomsday.

"But Sakuno-" she stopped him before he can even start.

"Stop it! I don't want to hear anything from you!" she was getting angry and tears were about to gush from her eyes. "Stay out of my life!" she shouted and hung up. She started crying, again.

'Oh no! Wasn't I supposed to hear him out? What did I just do!?' the real Sakuno thought. She dropped back down to her seat and held her phone with both her hands. The others rushed to them, thinking that Sakuno and Akaya were having a love quarrel.

She looked at him and her eyes were blinded by tears. She raised her arms and he let himself be hugged, if that was the only way to comfort her. 'Why am I letting him hurt her this much?' he thought. He was guilty of the fact of not being able to protect her from that jerk. 'Why can't he realize that they're over?' A lot of things came running in his mind. He was irate at himself and at Ryoma.

Marui was the first one to ask what was going on and he relayed what had happened. He turned livid as well after hearing that that prodigy is still pushing his luck at getting her back. (Sorry for him because he has to pass through Bunta first then face Akaya.)

******

Sakuno hung up on him. After a long time, he finally got to talk to her but his hopes were crushed. He realized what a jerk he was, invading her life after he left her. He then dialed a different number. A female voice answered him and squealed in delight.

"What's her telephone number?" he asked as she gave him the digits. He has been calling her old number. Nobody told him that she had moved into a new house. He dialed the given number and the voice of an old woman welcomed him.

"Ryoma!? You're back!" Sumire was happy that his ex-student is back after a long time.

"Where's Sakuno?" he asked with impatience in his voice.

"Well, she's in a party being held at Akaya's house." She said then Ryoma demanded that she give him the address. She did so and the other hung up as quickly as he got the address. "What an impolite boy." But then she thought what kind of trouble what she did will create. She grimaced. "At least this will close everything between them. I hope Kirihara-kun will not beat him up." She hoped that nothing bad will happen tonight.

He finally arrived at the place and pressed the doorbell. Renji heard and told the others that he will answer the door. As soon as he opened it, an irritated kid with golden eyes asked him where Sakuno was. He directed him and he paced through the house as if it was his own. (Feel at home, literally.) He got to the patio and met the sharp glares of two boys. "Sakuno." He called and she turned to him and was shocked at his sudden arrival. He wanted to approach her but Kirihara stopped him.

"What are you doing here?" Akaya's glare was deadly as poison that lingered on its prey.

The three competitors finally faced each other and the whole house fell silent. The others gathered at the door and made sure they moved carefully.

Will there be a show down?

* * *

**Sorry if that was a little long and a little boring, anyway, I hope you liked it.**

**_The story is coming to a close and the contenders already faced each other. Who will win? Will the death of somebody close to Sakuno change her entire life?_**

**There ya go! Please don't forget to review! n_n**


	15. Chapter 15

**Disclaimer: I do not own The Prince of Tennis.**

**_Will it be his end?_**

* * *

"What are you doing here?" Akaya's glare was deadly as poison that lingered on its prey.

The three competitors finally faced each other and the whole house fell silent.

"Sakuno, please let me explain." Ryoma pleaded but that's not going to change Akaya's resolution.

"She's not going to hear you out!" he said his glower still fixed on Ryoma. "Can't you see that she has moved on? Why don't you do the same and stop ruining our lives?" he continued to tongue lash Ryoma, in hopes that it gets to his very thick skull.

"I really love you Sakuno. Please…" Ryoma didn't care anymore. He said it as if there were only two of them. But such words from Ryoma are easy to disprove.

"Then why did you leave her?" Marui rebutted. Ryoma was dumb-struck. If he really loved her then why did he leave? So that he can achieve his dreams? 'I don't think so.' Marui thought.

"You're back because you lost in the first round of the tournament that you're in, am I right?" Sakuno finally spoke. All looked at her with surprised eyes, wanting to know more. Ryoma bit his lower lip; his secret is going to be revealed. "I heard from Shiba-san and Inoue-san and I also heard from the news."

"It was because of you that I went back, not bec-" before Ryoma could finish his sentence, Kirihara had finished it for him with a punch on his face.

"Akaya!" Sakuno shouted and ran to Ryoma who was now on the ground. "What did you just do!?" she was angry.

"I just punched him, isn't that obvious?" He replied angrily, angry of the fact that Sakuno is protecting that bastard from him. "Why are you protecting him? Is it because you still love him?"

"No. You're wrong." Sakuno said letting go of Ryoma and shifting her attention to Kirihara who has bloodshot eyes.

"I thought so. You never loved me. You just saw that stupid brat in me, ne?" he said, trying to lock his emotions inside of him. 'Why am I insecure when I already have her in my grasp?' he thought.

"That's not true!"

"I'm just a cork," he said walking towards her, "used to fit in a hole," he walked past her and the others who were at the door "a hole in your heart."

Sakuno began crying and said "You're wrong" over and over. Marui got pissed at Kirihara who was a complete jerk. He ran after his kohai and grabbed his arm. "What do you think are you doing?" he tightened his grip on his arm.

Kirihara just shrugged at first but his senpai was insistent. "Don't you love her too? Then I'm giving her to you!" at the said words, Marui totally snapped and hit him squarely on the face. The others hurried to stop them before something bad would happen (what's happening is already bad).

After a few minutes, the guys were able to stop the two who were at each others throats. Ryoma wanted to comfort Sakuno but she answered flatly, "Go home, Echizen-san." Ryoma couldn't do anything. Even she is trying to push him away. He did what she told him to do and left without anybody noticing.

Marui and Kirihara were far from each other in the living room when Sakuno entered. She walked over to Akaya who was drinking vodka on his own. He had this aura that he wanted to be alone and so, she bowed and apologized but he just ignored her.

Marui approached her and told her that he will take her home. "Come on Sakuno. That jerk doesn't know how you feel." He knew that Sakuno loved him truly. If she didn't, then she shouldn't have settled for him, knowing that there are a lot of better guys who are flocking around her.

******

The following morning, Sumire calls Sakuno for breakfast, but she doesn't want to get out of bed. She entered her room and tried to persuade her and she was able to get her out and eat.

She sat on the couch hugging her knees close to her as she held her cute little phone in her hands as if waiting for somebody to call her or send her a message. She cried again. Her Baa-san came and asked as to why she was crying and why she was down since last night. She also noticed that it wasn't Akaya who took her home and he always did. Sakuno felt the urge to tell her grandmother about it, of what happened yesterday.

Sumire asked for forgiveness. She was the one who told Ryoma where Sakuno was and thought that they will be able to close things between them. The road to hell is paved with good intentions. And with good intentions she did that.

******

That Monday during lunch break, she was looking all over for Akaya. She went first to the junior high building thinking that he'd be there. It's been his hiding place since last year. She huffed as she stepped out of the door and called his name. But to her delight, there was no response. She looked at his favorite place but he wasn't there. She sighed and decided to look for him in the senior high building. As she walked in the corridors she was wondering where he could be.

At the canteen, the regulars were surprised that their little baby is joining them for lunch because Sakuno always made lunch for him.

"Brat," Niou caught Akaya's attention and continued, "Where's princess?" the other just shrugged and continued to eat his sandwich. He was getting annoyed. He stood up and slammed a hand on the table and said "Stop acting like a kid and grow up, you idiot!" everyone is looking at him now but he didn't care. Akaya needed a lesson. "She's probably out there looking for you!"

It's as if a lightning bolt struck the Junior Ace. He remembered that that girl always got into trouble and no one else would come and get her out of it but him. He chewed on his sandwich and stood up. He walked slowly until he got out of the cafeteria. When he was in the corridors, he was running his legs off looking for Sakuno. He asked some of her friends but no one knew where she was.

"Where could she be?"

******

She arrived at the rooftop of the senior high building and grimaced that she couldn't find him there or anywhere. She was about to leave when a group of boys came to the rooftop. One of them spoke

"Looky here, if it isn't Sakuno-chan, the stupid Junior Ace's girlfriend." Sakuno steeled herself because this time, he might not be there to save her.

"He's not stupid." She defended though sometimes he is, but it does not matter.

"Oh, really?" the leader f the group closed in on her and put his hand against the wall beside Sakuno's head. "He wouldn't even spend a second with you. He's always with his tennis friends; tennis is everything to him." The last sentence echoed in her head.

It reminded her of someone who was identical with Akaya. She tilted her head to the side and her eyes looked at the ground and decided what she is going to say.

"Well? You coming with us?" the boy said which Kirihara heard as he climbed the stairs leading to the rooftop. He stopped and he wanted to hear what Sakuno was going to say.

"He is not like that! It's not just tennis that's in his mind!" she defended and the other boys just chuckled. "What's so funny about it?" she asked.

"Then where is he? Isn't he supposed to spend some quality time with you?" she flinched. Today was different, he wasn't there to spend lunch time with her, to whine at what his Yukimura-buchou made him do, to tell her that he bickered with his Niou-senpai and Marui-senpai and… and…

Her tears started to fall down her cheeks. "See? He only makes you cry." The boy put a hand on her face and continued, "I won't make you cry, I promise." Sakuno slapped his hand away.

"I'm not going with any of you! I have somebody to look for." She said with all the determination to go and seek him.

"Who said that you're going to leave this place?" then one of the boys held her wrist and she pulled away. Then another took hold of her other arm. Their leader chuckled; about to hold her somewhere that Akaya's hands hadn't trodden yet. She cocked her leg back and released a powerful front kick at the place where the sun doesn't shine.

Kirihara heard a loud wailing voice of a… guy? He hurried over to see a guy crimped on the floor holding his weak spot. He looked at Sakuno who was being held by two boys who were looking shocked at their friend. "Hey, what are you waiting for? Aren't you supposed to scurry out of the place while helping your friend walk?" he asked a rhetorical question. And the guys did leave with their friend in tow.

'And here I thought I needed to save you.' He wanted to tell her that. He looked at her, still standing there but she refused to look at him. He took her wrist and pulled lightly on it and led her back to join the others.

******

Back at the cafeteria they joined their senpai-tachi for lunch. It was the first time that they were complete including Sakuno. Kirihara sat far from Sakuno and she sat in between of Niou and Yagyu. This was also the first time in their history being together that they were actually quiet during lunch.

After practice, Kirihara hurried to the girls' tennis cub and waited for Sakuno. They needed to talk; after a number of months of their relationship, they had never been this cold at each other. Sakuno recognizes him and agrees on the arrangement

It was already dark and Akaya and Sakuno were quiet most of the time they were walking. She thanked him for teaching her to defend herself and he gave a curt nod. As they walked in the park, three men surrounded them. And one of them said something about paying their debt.

A man pulled Sakuno away from Kirihara and she fought against her attacker and the man chuckled at her. "So you've gotten a bit stubborn, huh?" she held her arms behind her and let her watch a gruesome happening.

******

The others decided to follow the two but they lost them in the thick crowd. They looked for them and got an idea that they could be in a park this time, since that's what couples do: walk in the park as they discuss some things and so on and so forth. They split up and looked for their kohai-tachi.

******

Kirihara ended up beaten to the ground. It's not that he couldn't take them on his own but one of them had a steel bar and he already had tasted it. He had a lot of blood flowing down his face; he received a punch on his eye that created a slit on his skin which oozed with blood. The other man let Sakuno watch the others gang up on Akaya and she was crying, calling his name again and again.

They hit him with the steel bar on the side of his head. His brain got shaken and he felt his eyesight faltering. He was about to land on the floor when Sakuno called him. He was able to put his hands before him for support and avoided a hurtful contact with the ground. He stood up and was able to fight the two somehow.

Sakuno got shoved on the floor. Her clothes got tattered from fighting against the man on top of her. "Kirihara-senpai!" she shouted and Akaya turned to her and saw her about to be raped. But to his action, he was caught off-guard.

He felt something cold being stabbed into his skin. The man pulled it out and he put a hand on to his side and felt something warm and wet gushing out. He looked at his hand and saw blood; his eyes quickly turned red which scared the men a step back.

He was able to beat one of them to the ground as the other stared. But that man finally got the guts to swing the bar that he held and hit Akaya on his occipital ridge.

He fell on the floor and blood formed a pool form his wound. Sakuno saw how he fell, as if time slowed down and she was able to read what played on his lips "I'm sorry…"

"AKAYA!" she shouted which caught the attention of her senpai-tachi who had been looking for them. Sanada took his racket and used it as if it was a katana and fought the guy who had a steel bar. The others, who were with Sanada, took the man who was on top of Sakuno and beat him up. Niou took his time beating him up and almost got his knuckles crushed and the face, which his fist was hitting, was far too unrecognizable. Yagyu stopped him since the man had lost his consciousness.

Sakuno sat up to her knees, shocked that Kirihara wasn't moving anymore. Then he stood up, starting with his arms pushing his body up and said "What took you so long, senpai?" He clenched his side and looked at Sakuno. Her hair was tousled and her uniform almost ripped to shreds. Then he walked over and removed his jacket, his jacket that is bloody and that had a hole in it. He kneeled in front of her and put the jacket on her shoulders.

"You might… c-catch a cold." His face somehow twisted in pain and his sight is getting darker due to the loss of blood.

"Akaya…" he was falling forward, his face still in a smile. He was happy that she was safe. "-kun." He fell in her arms, his head supported by her shoulder. He whispered to her ear before his breath would go out.

"I really love you."

The others arrived and Yagyu was calling for an ambulance. Yukimura was shocked, so was Marui and Jackal.

Sakuno held him tight, his blood getting all over her clothes. She cried her eyes and heart out. The siren of the ambulance can be heard in the night air and the incident has gathered a lot of bystanders.

* * *

**There you go. I hope you don't hate me for this!**

**_The story is coming to a close. Will he die? Will she let him die?_**

**So much for writing this chapter, please read and review! n_n**


	16. Chapter 16

**Disclaimer: I do not own The Prince of Tennis**

**_Will this be the end?_**

* * *

The siren of the ambulance rang through the cold night air. The paramedics quickly checked his pulse and said it was still there but small and weak. He can still be saved. They put him on a stretcher and into the ambulance. Sakuno also received medical treatment from the minor injuries she got from the man who tried to rape her. Jackal went with her and the others followed to the hospital after the criminals have been finally sent to jail.

As they got to the hospital, Kirihara was brought to the emergency room and the red light went on. Sakuno was crying still, it was just too much for her. Jackal instructed her to call her Baa-san and some friends while he called Akaya's parents.

Sakuno took her phone and called her Baa-san. She was frantic about what had happened so she rushed out of their house and into the streets to hail a cab.

Sakuno also called Tomo-chan, another one who was frantic and told her that she will tell the others and ask them if they could come and visit her in the hospital.

A few minutes had passed and the red light on the emergency room is still on. The other regulars came and reported that the three men had already been arrested. Sakuno was quiet, hugging her knees in her seat as she prayed that nothing worse would happen to Kirihara. Marui sat beside her and comforted her.

Everybody felt the same when Yukimura was going under operation, this time it's Kirihara that they are worried about. Sumire arrived and hugged Sakuno tightly and was glad that she was alright.

"Kiri-kirihara-senpai is… is…" she continued weeping and her Baa-san didn't understand a thing that she was trying to say. She told her to calm down and tell her what had happened.

Sakuno breathed deeply and relayed the events. Sumire tried to hide her tears but she couldn't stop them from falling. She hugged the poor girl who is now praying with her all to keep her senpai alive.

Kirihara's parents arrived and Yukimura apologized for what had happened to their son and his mother couldn't help but cry in unison with the women. She approached Sakuno and hugged her tightly and his father patted her shoulder. The Kirihara family is very fond of her and was glad that she often came over to their house; they really enjoy her company.

The light finally switched off and the doctor came out of the room. He asked who the parents of the boy were. Then he told them that he is alive but…

******

Tomo-chan and Ryoma arrived and saw Sakuno almost lifeless. She shook her but tears just fell continuously down her cheeks. The Rikkai regulars were down as well, as if they are carrying the whole world on their shoulders.

"Sakuno. Sakuno. What's happening?" Tomo-chan was worried about her friend because she didn't seem to be herself, as if life had been removed from her. She slapped her hard on the face and Sakuno seemed to have come back. "Get a grip, Sakuno!"

"T-Tomo-chan!" she was surprised that she was there. She was too preoccupied to realize it. Then the other apologized for her actions.

"What's going on?" Tomo asked. She looked at all the people who were close to them, noting their appearances.

"Akaya-kun is…" Sakuno tilted her head to the right and thought of how she was going to say it. Tomo waited and knew how grave the situation was. "He is in a comatose. The doctor said he received a fatal blow on his head that caused trauma and the chance of him waking up is... is… I d-don't know anymore, T-Tomo-chan!" she hugged her dearest friend and cried. She couldn't do anything.

Ryoma watched Sakuno as if she is a complete stranger or she has grown a third arm. "Why do you care about him so much?" he said. In his head he still believes that he's the only one that Sakuno would love.

Sakuno snaps at Ryoma for his insensitivity. "You want to know w-why, Ryoma-kun?" she paused as she cleared her voice. "First, he's my boyfriend and he saved my life, second!" her outburst shocked him. Then somebody approached them which made Ryoma move away from Sakuno.

Kirihara's Kaa-san approached her and asked her if she could come with her inside the room and look at Aka-chan. She followed her and saw how serene his face was when he lied there asleep. "He looks like an angel." Sakuno smiled as she sat beside him and saw the bandages on his face. She let her hand wander on his face, remembering to be gentle. His Kaa-san began crying again, as she saw how sad the scene was between her son and this girl that he loved.

******

As Sakuno left Tomo and Ryoma, Yukimura closed in on them and warned Echizen. "It's best that she doesn't see you for a while." He told Ryoma which earned him a glare. "Don't forget that it was your fault that the fight between Akaya and Sakuno ensued." He returned the glare, his face now serious as the younger fellow did not take his warning seriously. "Don't wait for her to tell you this." Then he left.

******

"Hey, don't f-forget to w-wake up, senpai. You still have c-classes tomorrow, okay?" she said, her voice trembling as she combed through his curly hair. She kissed him gently on his forehead as she got up and ready to leave. "I won't be able to repay you if you die, so don't you dare do so." She said as she mimicked his spunkiness. She walked towards his mother and embraced her then said her good-byes as she was leaving.

Akaya's mother also told the other boys to go home and get some sleep. They still have a lot of things to do in school the following day.

They all knew that school would be different tomorrow.

******

Sumire went to school to discuss some things with Sakuno's teachers about what had happened yesterday. The same goes for Akaya's mother.

Sakuno lied on her bed, staring blankly on the ceiling. She tried to reach her phone that was lying on the table beside her bed but knocked a picture frame in the process.

She picked up what it was that fell on the floor and dusted it. It has a picture of them together eating ice cream. She smiled because Akaya had ice cream on his nose and she has some on her cheek.

Then, droplets of tears started to fall on the picture.

******

Sakuno attended school today but she often spaced out. Her English teacher was so concerned that she sent her to the infirmary to rest. Despite her protests, she was forced to go and rest for a while. At lunch break, she went to their usual meeting place, but a group of girls was there.

"If it isn't Ryuzaki." One of them said annoyed at her sudden appearance. She wanted to go back to her class room but the others wanted to confront her.

"It's your fault that Kirihara is absent today, isn't it?" she felt guilty and couldn't say anything to defend herself.

Marui went to Sakuno's class and asked her friend as to where Sakuno might be. She told him that she might be in the rooftop again or maybe not. Marui asked for her help to find Sakuno.

"You should have died so you can't cause them trouble!" one of the girls slapped Sakuno on the face yet she just bowed.

"I will if I could," Sakuno began crying. "I will do it if it will bring him back."

"Sakuno!" Marui called her and her friend came to hug a crying Sakuno. He looked angrily at the girls and they slipped away before they could get into trouble. Sakuno pulled away from the hug and ran to the edge of the rooftop, putting her hands on the railings and looked down.

"What are you going to do?" Marui ran towards her as she scaled the railings.

"Marui-senpai, t-tell him I'm sorry." Sakuno then let go of her grip on the steel railing but Marui grabbed her wrist and grunted as he pulled Sakuno so that she won't fall.

"Baka! Even if he wakes up and he finds you dead, he still won't be happy!" Marui pulled her and she realized that what she was trying to do was inherently wrong. "You're everything to him so don't make everything disappear." He pulled her in and she cried on his shoulder as he patted her back.

After school, they all decided to visit their friend. When they arrived, his mother wasn't there. Sakuno sat beside the bed and the others took their places in the room.

Niou stood up from his seat, impatient from the silence. He walked over to Kirihara, and then said, annoyed, "Look at him. He's as good as dead." Yukimura's head shot up at Niou's words; he called his name to get his attention.

Yet he was oblivious, "All that's missing is a coffin and he'd pass for a corpse which people mourn over."

"Masaharu!" Yukimura called on first name basis.

"What? Are you going to punish me with 300 laps around the courts at practice tomorrow, Seiichi!?" he snapped.

"Everyone's frustrated, Masaharu, not just you." He pointed at all the people inside the room. Niou left with his feet heavy and also his heart.

Sakuno just held Akaya's hand as Niou and Yukimura were arguing with each other. As Niou got out of the room, Akaya's mother entered while carrying some fruits.

After a few moments, they decided to go home. It's different without him.

******

Almost three weeks had passed and no signs of reaction to stimuli. Akaya is still in deep sleep due to the blow that was delivered to his head.

The others visited him on a regular basis, telling him that he missed a lot of lessons and that he has lots of assignments. They were sad; the team didn't have their little baby and Yukimura had to play in singles-one slot, not that the matches ever came to a point that he had to play but seriously, it's been hard for all of them.

It was a fine Saturday morning and Tachibana An decided to come and visit Akaya in the hospital. The regulars can't come until they finished their match.

Sakuno took her usual spot. An looked at Kirihara. "I never thought he could look so angelic." It sounded a little sarcastic but she had a point.

Sakuno looked at him and brushed away some locks that were over his eyes. "His hair has grown longer." She noticed that some on the bandages on his face have been removed and the one on his left brow was the only one left.

"He's sleeping, right?" An was curious. What is it like when you're in a comatose?

"If he is, I wonder what he is dreaming about." Sakuno paused, "Is he dreaming about me?" she smiled as she held his hand.

Then the regulars came, a little tired of the game they played. Marui closed in to the bed and the girls left as Kirihara's mom sensed that it will be another session of men's talk.

Marui clenched his hands and turned them into fists. "It's been three weeks! Aren't you planning on waking up!?" he shouted; his amethyst eyes full of sorrow. He grabbed Akaya's clothes and yanked on him, pulling him up from bed. The others tried to stop him but he only shook Akaya more.

"God damn it! Don't stop me!" it was within a blue moon that Marui is like that and they let him do what he wants.

"I know you can hear me, you brat! So listen carefully!" he cleared his throat and Akaya's head dangled lifelessly. "If you keep on sleeping like that, it'll be too easy for me to steal her from you!" he said. He got annoyed that he still hasn't woken up. He shook him a lot more times but grew tired of it and decided to put him down.

He let him go, allowing Akaya to fall down on his bed when suddenly a loud banging sound was heard. Their eyes shot wide open as Akaya's head hit the metal framing of the bed.

His eyes shot open upon contact of his head with the steel and he gasped for air but they closed again and he felt the people around him put him back to bed, properly this time. He blinked slowly, his eyes a little irritated by the light, as the others were too busy scolding Marui.

"Hey… What's… going on?" he said, his voice still husky from sleep.

"Stay out of this Akaya! This is none of your business." Sanada muttered, "Go back to sleep!" when it hit them that Akaya did speak and he was awake!

"You brat!" Niou shouted as he bonked his head. Kirihara rubbed his head and said that it hurts big time which prompted the others to look at Marui then laughed.

"Where is… she?" he asked remembering Sakuno. He had a little difficulty in speaking.

"You will only get to see her if you act properly!" Niou grinned mischievously as he vocalized his plan.

******

"Sakuno! Sakuno!" they heard a man calling to them and found Jackal panting as he finally reached them.

"He's… awake!" then the women hurried their pace as they wanted to see Akaya awake.

When they reached his room, they saw him, still asleep. "I thought he was awake." His mother got depressed again when Yagyu spoke.

"Maybe he needs a kiss from a princess?" Everyone looked at him with raised eyebrows. "It's Sleeping Beauty, but the roles are reversed." He said, hoping to find a way to wake his kohai.

"But in this case, who is the princess?" An asked them.

"She is our princess." Niou looked at Sakuno. He has been addressing her as princess for a while now.

"Me?" she pointed a finger at her self, still confused and her senpai-tachi nodded. She sighed. 'What if it's the only way to wake him up?' She finally agreed and Sanada told the other women to leave the room together with them.

As they exited the room, Marui let himself to be left inside and closed the door. Even though it is painful for him, he wanted to see her happy again. 'If she's happy, then I am as well.' He thought.

Sakuno leaned in for the kiss that would awaken her prince, but to her surprise, a hand pulled her closer. She gasped and their lips touched. His tongue invaded her mouth and brushed through her teeth and played with hers. They parted, both having flushed faces.

"Long time… no see." He smiled at her. She punched him at the chest and ranted.

"You were awake! You tricked me!" she said as tears started to form in her eyes yet her smile was so brilliant that it brought back his strength. She hugged him and they closed in for another kiss.

"It's nice to be back."

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**A little cheesy ne? I'm sorry about that. Hehe I hope you like it, please don't forget to read and review! n_n my end ramblings are like bot messages...**


	17. Epilogue

**I do not own the Prince of Tennis.**

**_Will this be the last?_**

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**Epilogue**

A few days after, Akaya got discharged from the hospital yet he still had difficulties on speaking and he was only awake for only short periods of time. The doctor said that it was a good thing that he was in a comatose, that it helped him to not feel the pain of the injuries he received from the brutal bashing. As days passed by, his bodily mechanisms and functions had returned to normal but the doctor still won't allow him to participate in heavy tennis practice or matches.

A fine Saturday afternoon, Akaya knocked at the Ryuzakis' door and Sumire was the one who greeted him. She glared at him when he tried to look likeable. Then she smiled and told him to take care of Sakuno.

Akaya closed the door behind him as Sumire left for a meeting or something. He called Sakuno many times but she didn't hear him. Impatient, he decided to go to her room and check if she was there.

He entered the room and saw Sakuno getting dressed. She was half way done buttoning her shirt when Akaya hugged her from the back. He then expertly sucked on her neck and she groaned as his hand went wild on her petite body.

She turned around and cupped his face with her palms and they kissed deeply. They parted, both of them blushing heatedly.

Akaya bowed a little to look at her chest and said "You've grown a lot bigger there." while pointing his lips to the said target.

Sakuno wrapped her arms on his neck, her chest against his and whispered at his ear. "You're a pervert." They were about to kiss when the door to Sakuno's room opened.

"Sakuno, I forgot to-" Sumire appeared at the door, agape. "What do you think are you doing!?"

"Shit! I forgot to lock the door!" Akaya realized his stupidity of not doing so.

She backed away and vanished quickly and when she returned a few seconds later, she was holding an unsheathed katana. Kirihara hid behind Sakuno and trembled in fear, thinking how scarier Sumire-baa-san was compared to Sanada-fuku-buchou. She attacked him but he was able to evade then went scampering out of Sakuno's room.

"Come back here!" Sumire bellowed and her granddaughter sweat dropped.

******

"What an inconvenience." He sighed as he added a mental note for himself to remember forever. 'Women's anger is the scariest.' If Sumire was a little younger, he could have been sent back to the hospital with an abdomen sliced in half and his intestines falling out. How lucky he was that only his shirt got ripped apart and that the old ha- I mean, woman had a meeting with somebody that she couldn't afford to be late.

He stopped and bent down to tie his shoelaces and Sakuno continued to near Seishun Gakuen's gates where her friends were waiting.

"Sakuno!" Tomo shouted as she waved a hand to call her friend. She hugged her and squealed in delight as Sakuno was able to come.

"So who are you with?" Momoshiro asked and she turned her head, followed by the others, as Kirihara was approaching while scratching his head.

"Yo!" he said at the people at the gate who didn't want to believe what they were seeing.

Fuji chuckled and welcomed Kirihara, at least he was polite unlike the others. They shook hands and the wind seemed to be a lot colder. "I'm glad you've been taking care of Ryuzaki-chan while she was at Rikkai." He smiled at Kirihara who smirked in return.

"What else could I do? Nobody else wanted to do it." Sakuno nudged his arm and he chuckled.

They escorted the two to the courts and when they arrived, Ryoma asked Kirihara to a serious game and he affirmed. Sakuno frowned. "You're such a worry-wart." Akaya bonked her head and told her that everything will be okay. She watched from the sidelines as her senpai played a one-set match with the prodigy.

"Don't think that I've given up!" Ryoma said as he hit the ball to the other side of the net.

"I haven't; it's all up to her." Kirihara replied which annoyed Ryoma.

"But you acted as if you own her back then!" he pertained to the situation they had when he asked Sakuno to hear him out but Kirihara answered a flat no.

"That's a mistake I've done not too long ago. Now I know that I don't own her life. I'm only here because she chose to have me here." Then Ryoma missed the ball as Kirihara hit it too far for him to reach.

"Game to Kirihara Akaya, 6 games to 4!" the umpire said, quite shocked that Ryoma lost.

"If you had concentrated, I wouldn't have won." He said as he turned his back to exit the court. Sakuno welcomed him with a towel and a bottle of water.

She handed him the towel and smiled as he toweled his face dry. She gave him the water and hugged him as he drank from it. Ryoma watched everything and there was a very painful sting that he felt in his heart.

"Easy there! I'm all sweaty and you're hugging me?" he asked as the little girl clung on to him.

"Yes and I don't care if you're sweaty or not." She said while giggling as he put a hand on her head and continued to drink from his bottle.

Everybody in the courts saw how sweet they were and everyone jaw dropped except those who are imperturbable, Tezuka-buchou, Fuji, Inui and Ryoma, also Tomo-chan.

Momoshiro approached them and asked "Ryuzaki-chan, is he… is he your boyfriend?" Sakuno blushed and quickly detached her self from Kirihara who just glared at her Momo-senpai. She bowed and smiled. "No way!" Momo was in doubt. "A guy like him with Sakuno!? Completely impossible!" stupid Momo couldn't help but vocalize his thoughts.

"Hey, I'm here you know!" Akaya annoyingly scowled at Momoshiro's skepticism. Then Kaidoh passed by with his usual 'Fusshhuu' and a "Moron!"

"What did you just say, Mamushi!?" he quickly transferred his attention to his rival. "Don't tell me you weren't surprised! Hey, don't ignore me!"

Akaya sweat dropped. There's no way that he's going to hang out with this people. "How are you able to stand such people?" he asked Sakuno who then shrugged.

Fuji approached them and chuckled (again) at the actions of his teammates. "I'm sorry about them."

"No, it's okay." Akaya enjoyed their fight as the two were getting heated up in their stupid argument.

"Do you mind if we played a little tennis?" there was a ten degree drop in the temperature.

Akaya perked up and gave Sakuno the towel and the bottle. "A rematch, huh? Guess everyone wants a piece of me today." He said as he waved a hand at Sakuno.

Kirihara at least expected that he will do well in their game but didn't exactly expect that he will win, and so, he didn't. After their match, Kirihara asked as to where he can change his clothes and the freshmen trio guided him with their knees all wobbly of fear.

Fuji approached Sakuno as he got out of the courts and smiled at her. "You've change him a lot, Ryuzaki-chan." He said as she shook her head.

"Iie, senpai. He hadn't c-changed one bit." She said as she saw her Fuji-senpai's knee, a little red from an impact with a ball. He chuckled and Kirihara was back after a few moments.

Sakuno decided that they should be on their way home since it was getting dark. The others accompanied them to the gates and Sakuno thanked them all.

She waved good bye at everyone and she saw Ryoma far at the back of the crowd, still wearing his poker face. She also waved at him and she joined Kirihara as they walked away from Seigaku.

They rode a bus home and he fell asleep, his head on her shoulder and let out small snores. She smiled as she was happy that everything's back to normal.

_-Fin-_

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**There ya go! The last chapter of this fic! I know, i know, it's open-ended, which only means one thing, dot dot dot. Hehe, it's up to you guys if you want me to write a second to this fic. I'll reconsider if I receive reviews from all my readers saying "We want more! We want more!" haha. n_n**

**Thanks for everyone who stayed with me to the end of this fic, I really appreciate your patience! _Mahal ko kayong lahat!_**

**_Thanks to TheTensaiMaruiBunta, silverDoe02, rebeccasanfujieijilvr, MyPrinceOishi08, mysweetkat, hai-chan13, Saku Mar Echizen Potter, windyelephant, Kuma the wolf alchemist, fyerigurl, precious92 and to those who read my fic._**

**Don't forget to review this last chapter! I guess I'll see you later!**

**_-Ezekiel Cruz_**


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